NZ Dairy_Winter 2013

Winter 2013

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New sliding roof: page 26

INSIDE

Bottom line says it all - PAGE 11

More cows bring their award - PAGE 18

• Can apply application rates below 7mm/per hr and depths down to 3mm, while still dealing with raw effluent • Low Application rates, while cutting down the labour input

Partners add more scope - PAGE 23

Lame cows the change catalyst - PAGE 37

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• The GBMagnum has a mounted rain gun to provide twice the application area you would cover with a conventional travelling irrigator

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DAIRY PEOPLE: Dave & Clare Beuth

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

A tale of two dairy extremes Sue Russell You couldn’t get two more different farming experiences, as Dave and Clare Beuth discovered nine years ago when they moved from sharemilking at Waihau Bay, near Cape Runaway on the East Coast, to farm ownership in the airily misty, bleak and challenging conditions of the Mamaku ranges 15 kilometres north of Rotorua.

“When the sharemilking contract finished at Waihau we were looking to buy a farm, but couldn’t afford anything in that area,” says Dave Beuth.

“We wanted a farm the two of us could manage by ourselves, and we found it here in the Mamakus.

We’ve gone from maybe one or two frosts a year to snow once or twice a year, and often bitterly cold wet conditions.”

The farm carries 300 crossbred cows, a whole mixed bag, as Clare puts it. They have had up to 320, which is the maximum they want to milk given the capacity of the 24-a-side herringbone shed. As it is Dave spends five hours a day in the shed, and reckons that’s enough.

The farm receives good rainfall, but the grass doesn’t really start to take off until mid-October.

“Our spring can be challenging in managing pasture to maintain condition,” says Clare. “In our first season here we made quite a bit of mud and

Left: The Beuth family out on location on their Mamaku farm.

Lower left: The Beuths’ Herd Homes shelter...Dave Beuth says the cows are reluctant to leave in the morning and run to get back at night.

it was a really steep learning curve but we figured things out.”

Dave always had faith in the farm, and, intent on improving cow condition, the couple bought a 40-hectare run-off five kilometres away. Then, in a move that really changed their farming practice and resulted in further increases in production,

the Beuths took a deep breath, visited the bank manager, and borrowed money to house their herd under cover.

“Six years ago Dave started harassing me about having a stand-off pad,” says Clare. “We would get to September with three-quarters of our herd milking, and with the wet springs we often get, the paddocks were getting damaged.”

They thought about a couple of options and settled on two 60-metre Herd Home shelters, which gives them plenty of room for their whole herd, plus some. The pad, which is covered with horticultural

BUSINESS, FINANCIAL & TAXATION SERVICES

roofing, keeps the cows warmer, particularly through the winter and spring. In turn, this lowers the stress on the animals, and helps them produce more milk and retain their condition for longer.

Effluent is stored in large holding tanks and every two years or so, a contractor comes in to remove it and flick it out over the paddocks. A direct benefit of this recycling is that they have not had to apply any additional phosphate, and the fertiliser bill has shrunk.

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INSIDE

Bottom line says it all - PAGE 11

More cows bring their award - PAGE 18

• Can apply application rates below 7mm/per hr and depths down to 3mm, while still dealing with raw effluent • Low Application rates, while cutting down the labour input

Partners add more scope - PAGE 23

Lame cows the change catalyst - PAGE 37

www.waterfordpress.co.nz

• The GBMagnum has a mounted rain gun to provide twice the application area you would cover with a conventional travelling irrigator

0800 4 EFFLUENT (0800 433 358) • www.williamsirrigation.co.nz

DAIRY PEOPLE: Roger Dickie New Zealand Ltd

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

3

Investors keen for more farms – promoter Jo Bailey Investors in Roger Dickie New Zealand Ltd’s two dairy investment farms in Southland have indicated they are keen to keep farming the properties rather then sell them, says Roger Dickie.

“Both farms are getting to the stage where, if the majority of investors wished to sell, we would do so. However the message from the investors was quite clear – they didn’t want to sell, in fact they would like to buy more farms.”

Dickie has been on the hunt for more dairy investment opportunities in Southland, but hasn’t found the right property “just yet”.

“We want to stick with Southland as it creates efficiencies having the investment properties in one region. We’re looking for a quality farm producing around 300,000 kilograms of milksolids, but it’s not easy at today’s prices. We don’t mind paying the market rate, but we’re not interested in paying more.”

Around 275 investors are involved with Dickie’s properties – Coldstream Downs Dairy Farm, a 349.9-hectare unit in the Waimea

Valley, which was bought and syndicated in 2005; and the 413.5ha Murray Creek Dairy Farm near Lumsden, which followed in 2008.

Dickie says the company’s minimum investment requirement of $25,000 is increasing to $50,000, but is still well short of Dion and Kate Soutar, with staff, at the Dickies’ Waverley property. other investment farms that often target qualified we collect, such as production results and A second shed on the based regime with low investors between inputs. Assistance is somatic cell counts,” says Dickie, “It helps $250,000 and $500,000 provided by Farmwise with our management and decision-making.” property will overcome or more. consultant Jack Ballam.

The proper ty supplies milk to Open Dairy “Our investors come Ballam has also Company in the winter, which, says Dickie, the problems of long from all walks of life and consulted at Dickie’s offers “good winter premiums and early appreciate that they have own dairy farm on the payments”. walks for the cows. something tangible to coast at Waverley, since The production target of 400 kilograms of show for their investment. it was converted in milksolids per cow hasn’t been reached yet.

They tend to have a medium 2010.

However, Dickie is confident production will go to long-term view rather than looking for quick “Jack brings a wealth of experience and an “well past” this threshold once a second shed returns.” attitude towards high production and minimal is built on the proper ty.

Dickie presents investment statements and purchase of supplements. He works closely This will overcome the problems of long a registered prospectus to potential investors with our Waverley sharemilkers, Dion and Kate walks for the cows, he says. and uses “totally independent” professionals Soutar, who share his philosophy. We are very Dickie also runs Pukekaka Sheep & Beef (valuers, consultants and the like) to verify the pleased with the performance of all three on Farm, a 1109.8ha investment proper ty 26 project’s feasibility and provide information for the proper ty.” kilometres east of Taihape. investors.

Just over 1500 cows are being milked at And he continues to be “very busy” Both Southland farms are managed by Waverley through a 54-bail rotary shed with running the forestry investment arm of Roger sharemilkers and run under a mainly grassGEA plant and an Ag Hub system.

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Calves tuck in at the Dickies’ Waverley farm.

Dave values his off-farm work • From page 2 “When it’s cold, wet and horrible and the cows have been in the Herd Home all night and I open the gate to let them out, they stand looking at me for quite a while,” chuckles Dave. “They don’t want to leave, and when it’s time to head home, I see them running down the race – they can’t wait to get back.”

Most farms in the Mamaku area are managed rather than owned, and once a month, Dave Beuth catches up with farmers in the district at discussion groups.

He values this time and space, and he knows that those farmers who attend get a lot out of time together talking about plans, challenges and discovering new ways to do things. The groups move around farms in the area, and usually involve a rural professional as well.

Beuth is also his third year as a shareholder councillor with Livestock Improvement Corporation, and has been a farmer networker for Fonterra for eight years.

He says these roles give him and the farmers he represents a voice and information for their planning and decision-making.

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WE ARE PROUD TO SERVICE ROGER DICKIE’S DAIRY PLANT. Some of Dave and Clare Beuth’s 300 crossbred cows enjoy an idyllic day in the Mamakus.

However, as the Beuths are quick to point out, the sun doesn’t always shine like this.

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DAIRY PEOPLE: Craig & Kim Lynskey

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

Above/lower right: Craig and Kim Lynskey have this season bought a high-breeding-value herd from Craig’s parents, Michael and Marianne Lynskey. Above: From left, Kim Lynskey, son Mack, daughter Ellie, Craig, and farm assistant Jesse Luond.

Gen3 takes on family farm Kelly Deeks Pastoral, pastural and personal development are high priorities for first-year 50:50 sharemilkers Craig and Kim Lynskey as they have spent the past five years working on developing a South Taranaki dairy farm for Craig’s parents, whilst completing their own AgITO training to improve their farming and business skills.

They are the third generation of Lynskeys to work on the home farm at Pikhama. They have been back there farm since 2007 when Michael and Marianne Lynskey bought a neighbouring property and doubled the size of their farm to 125 hectares.

Craig Lynskey was running an agricultural contracting business, which he reduced in scale, bought into the farm, and worked on the farm in the spring.

Lynskey’s Lancaster has been in the LIC daughterproven team for 2 years.

He has retained some of his equipment from the contracting business and does all his own cultivation work on the home farm, and the nearby 19ha run-off.

He started growing 10ha of maize at the run-off in 2007 and continues to do so; the 10ha is put back into oats for winter crop. He also grows 10ha of turnips on the home farm.

In 2010, Lynskey got out of contracting and went lower-order sharemilking on the family farm.

Kim, who had been working as a self-employed hairdresser, had the couple’s first baby, Ellie, that year; they now also have six-month-old Mack. Kim now works on the farm, rearing calves and keeping the books.

Craig Lynskey says he misses what he would learn from other farmers while working on their farms as a contractor, but now has the opportunity to put that education into practice.

“I covered a big area when I was contracting.

I’ve seen a lot of good farmers and a lot of good operations, and I learned some good things.”

In 2010 the family built a new 50-bail rotary dairy shed to replace the 28-bail rotary. This has improved their capacity to handle the growing herd.

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This season the Lynskeys calved 440 cows, but are projecting production will be 10,000 kilograms of milksolids below last season. The farm was affected by the drought, and by April they had dried

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The herd has increased by 10 cows every season for the past five years. This season the Lynskeys bought a high-breeding-worth herd from Craig’s parents. The farm has a crossbred bull, Lynskey’s Lancaster, which has been in the

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DAIRY PEOPLE: Frank & Wendy Portegys

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

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Award-winners look to shade after day in sun Sue Russell Frank and Wendy Portegys’ “due diligence” to enhance the environment on their 144-hectare equity-partnership Waikato dairy farm at Tauwhare, between Morrinsville and Cambridge, has been recognised with two awards.

The Portegys won two categories – the nutrient management award and the dairy farm award – in last year’s Ballance Farm Environment Awards.

Each award came with $1000 prize-money.

“We were quite stoked at even being nominated because you get a lot of feedback and pointers just by entering”, says Frank Portegys, who describes the interview process as “fairly relaxed”.

The couple have a 25% share in the farm business, Braemar Lands Ltd, and are employed as lower-order sharemilkers by the company.

Before going farming Frank worked as a fertiliser rep and then for Dairy New Zealand, which he says has helped enormously with gaining an understanding of the nutrient cycle and developing the farm’s nutrient management plan.

Braemar Lands runs a relatively low-input, splitcalving system with 380 crossbred cows. About 150 cows are milked over winter and 150 dry cows are wintered off farm.

This system has a number of advantages, he

says. Such as being able to spread the workload, improved cashflow, receiving the winter-milk premium, and improved ability to match feed supply and demand over summer.

“The biggest advantage is less soil damage over winter,” he says. A hundred and 50 milkers are less prone to pug the soil than 150 dry cows, especially when grazing the flats that are prone to flooding.”

A new full-time worker was also taken on for the 2012-13 season. Mike Smith began as a relief milker while still at school and has had no previous farm experience, but he has proved a good worker and is keen to learn, says Frank. Mike replaced Darren Smith, who left to go sharemilking after two and a half years with the Portegys.

Wendy Portegys teaches physical education at Morrinsville College, and the couple have four children, aged between nine and 16. Wendy helps with some of the farm administration.

The Portegys are looking to consolidate their environmental work with further riparian planting

Tauwhare School pupils help with the riparian plant on the Portegys property. The school received a silver award from the Enviroschools Foundation for its efforts. and more shade trees. They see the present herd size as optimal for the size of the property.

“I’ve been involved with the local primary school at Tauwhare where kids have come out to the farm and done some riparian planting,” says Frank. “They received a silver award from the Enviroschools Foundation for their efforts. It is something I’ve really enjoyed being involved with.”

He’s also keen to plug the Ballance Farm Environment Awards. It was not a daunting process and was well worthwhile for all the comprehensive information gained.

The awards began in 1993, with the main objective to show farmers that care of the

The judging panel looks for the positives...It’s not about criticism, it’s about what you’ve done as a farmer to enhance the environment.

environment and adopting sustainable practices need not threaten farm profitability.

An independent trust, formed in 1995, administers the awards and the Ballance AgriNutrients naming rights attained a decade ago.

The success of the awards and the status attached to being a winner is in part due to how they are structured. Entrants get feedback from the judges, who are appointed for their farming and environmental expertise, and regional winners receive exposure to media and events.

In assessing a farm for an award, the judging panel looks for the positives in terms of development of the farm’s environment.

“It’s not about criticism,” says Frank Portegys.

“It’s about what you’ve done as a farmer to enhance the environment.

“When the judging panel visited, it felt more like a walk and a chat. I wasn’t nervous. I’d done the prep and I would encourage anyone who has an interest in developing their farm’s environment to have a go.”

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Farm assistant rated ‘invaluable’ • From page 4 off half the herd and were milking the remainder once a day.

They will calve 450 cows next season, and will be aiming to produce 195,000kg milksolids.

Craig Lynskey is helped out on the farm by an assistant, Jesse Luond, who has been working with him for three years and is “invaluable to the operation”.

Luond has completed his AgITO apprenticeship and AgITO levels three and four. In the past two years he has been among made the six national finalists for the Dairy Trainee of the Year award.

Competition in that category is stiff, and Craig Lynskey is happy and proud that Jesse has made it that far.

“I encourage him to enter the competitions, but he also has a lot of drive behind him. He wants to

move up the industry ranks,” says Craig Lynskey.

He says another he couldn’t do without is his farm adviser, Warren Arlidge, from Interlact.

Lynskey and Luond meet the ex-vet every six weeks; he provides nutritional advice based on his knowledge of local land conditions.

Lynskey is the convener for the Dairy New Zealand Pihama/Te Kiri discussion group, which involves about 20 farmers. He views such groups as a good thing for the local community as they, bring farmers together after every season to talk about what is happening on their properties.

Both Craig and Kim Lynskey are now working towards AgITO level five, with the goal of completing a National Diploma in Agribusiness Management. The AgITO training has helped both of them to understand their business better, and to work alongside like-minded people also looking to get ahead, says Craig.

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DAIRY PEOPLE: Kerry, Annette & Ryan Walker

6

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

Red tape threatens ‘little farmers’ Kelly Deeks As the owner of a smaller dairy farm, Kerry Walker worries about increasing levels of bureaucracy, regulation and red tape.

“I agree with the regulations in principle –. it’s important to do all the things like fencing waterways and controlling nitrogen leaching.

“But as there’s no recompense for the cost, it squeezes the profit and can make smaller farms uneconomic,” says Walker. He, wife Annette and son Ryan own a 48-hectare dairy farm at Te Horo, on the Kapiti Coast.

This is one of the reasons we’re seeing a lot more 500-plus-cow farms, and the average age of farm-owners being pushed up, he says.

“The little farmers can’t afford the cost of putting in a new effluent system, for example.

And compliance costs are a barrier to new entrants being attracted to the industry, as they can’t afford to buy and run the farms.

“Soon, the only people who will be able to afford to buy a dairy farm will be people from overseas. That’s the way its trending; people won’t be able to move up the ranks as I did.”

Running a low-input system is an important factor on Walker’s Te Horo farm. He works hard on pasture management to avoid becoming reliant on external inputs.

He owns what was one of his father’s dairy farms – and it’s the only dairy farm he has worked on in New Zealand.

After university and a stint working overseas, he returned home in 1983 and worked his way up the ranks as farm worker, contract milker and 50:50 sharemilker, then bought the 48-hectare farm in 1987.

Kerry Walker and best friend. He says that while it’s important to do things such as fencing waterways and controlling nitrogen leaching, there is no recompense. The cost squeezes profit and can make smaller farms uneconomic.

In the next few years the farm doubled in size as Walker bought four more blocks around the edges. He is now running about 250 cows.

Having been paying off debt as quickly as possible for the past few years, his emphasis is on reducing costs.

This comes down to better pasture management and ensuring he is running the right number of cows for the area, he says.

This means making small changes to herd numbers when necessary – in the 2012-13 season, for instance, he dropped herd numbers by just 15 cows, milking 235 and making sure they were all fully fed all the time.

He has also improved his in-calf rate after having had trouble with his empty rates the previous season.

“It just happened out of the blue and doubled in one year,” he says. “We’ve had a lot of liaison with the vets, and we’ve made

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sure we’ve got all the staff up to speed with heat detection. We scanned the cows early, in November, so if there was a problem then, we could do something about it as soon as possible.”

Despite the higher empty rate, Walker achieved his second-best production season in 2011-12, He says 2012-13 was second best again. His best production was in a “brilliant season” 10 years ago, and he has been unable to match it

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The managers of Macland Farms and Kaiwaiwai Dairies (both near Featherston and both owned by the Peveral Industries syndicate) were celebrating after this year’s Hawke’s Bay/Wairarapa Farm Manager of the Year dairy industry awards.

Jay Harris, just finished his first season as manager of Macland Farms after being promoted from second-in-charge, finished third. Kaiwaiwai Dairies manager Rowan McGilvary was runner-up and won the farm management merit award Aidan Bichan, one of the syndicate directors, says Harris is in his mid-20s and relatively new to the industry, but very keen to learn.

“He has good systems and is keen to seek out information. He has very clear goals of where he wants to be and how he wants to get there.”

Bichan says McGilvary is running a complex operation involving winter milking, summer-dry conditions and diverse feeds, including pasture, palm kernel, kale and oats.

“His staff management is exemplary. He is well organised and meets regularly with staff. Both managers are very good at encouraging everyone to give everything on farm a go. Staff have individual responsibilities, but are all equipped to undertake most jobs on farm.”

Bichan says this is an important aspect of the farm philosophy, and possibly contributed to the success of the managers.

“Our philosophy is that we want people to have a good grounding in all aspects of the farm. We aim to produce well rounded people. Our choice is to promote internally, so this benefits us as well. We have a pretty stable workforce, and this is also an indicator of success.”

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DAIRY PEOPLE: Kevin & Felicity Clark

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

7

Brothers band together to up bottom line Karen Phelps Collective buying power helps keep Kevin and Felicity Clark’s farm on budget. The couple farm a 126-hectare (120ha effective) unit at Waimana and operate a system 5 high-input system of feeding out year-round.

Sourcing feed at the right price is vital. They team up with Kevin’s brothers, who also farm in the area, to secure better prices for buying in bulk. For example, the brothers have just secured a contract for 1000 tonnes of palm kernel at $33 per tonne below the market price – saving them $33,000.

“Pooling our resources certainly makes our businesses much more efficient and cost effective,” says Kevin. “We also pool machinery between the farms, which gives us access to a much greater range than we would otherwise afford on our own.”

Kevin grew up on the family dairy farm at Waimana, worked on it after leaving school, did his OE, and then returned to the farm and progressed through the dairy system.

He and Felicity bought the farm in 1996. They now milk 420 holstein friesian cows through a 54-a-side herringbone shed with twin pit. The herd includes 250 pedigree animals, which form the Clarks’ Glenmead Holstein Friesian Stud, which produces bulls for the artificial breeding industry, selling around 13 a year.

The focus has changed from production to traits, says Clark.

“It’s the nature of the industry. We’ve gone to some pretty large-scale operations in New Zealand and average herd-size is now close to 400. People don’t have time to do one-on-one with animals any more, so they want an easy-care animal that will fit into their system.”

The farm employs contract milkers Phil and Rachel James, and the aim of the system is to fully feed cows year round. They buy in around two tonnes of supplement per cow each year; predominantly maize silage and palm kernel with a bit of kiwifruit. Kevin says he keeps a daily watch on feed prices so he can secure feed at the right price as well as utilising all the grass grown on farm.

Contract milker Phil enters data into the Pro-Track system in Kevin and Felicity Clark’s 54-a-side herringbone shed.

amongst dairy awards Both managers are involved in budgeting and financial planning.

“Although this is not common in the industry, we feel that having a hand in the figures and the discussion that goes around this will give them a better understanding and enable them to do their job better. One of our key performance indicators is the cost of production.

“The managers have a crack at the budget for the coming season, which is then approved by the board.”

Macland Farms and Kaiwaiwai Dairies milk nearly 2000 cows in total. Each farm has its own manager and staff; a combined dry-stock manager takes care of the 494 hectares of lease blocks used to support both farms.

The farms are run by a board of directors, a management committee, and an overall operations manager to whom the farm managers report.

“It’s a structure that allows problems to be identified and solved so that we can get on with the job,” says Bichan.

Macland Farms, on the northern shores of Lake Onoke, comprises 420ha (375ha effective), plus a 205ha leaseblock. The farm winters 1050 friesian/ friesian-cross cows and aims to peak-milk 1000 cows through the 60-bail rotary dairy.

Only 100ha of the farm is not irrigated, and 300 of the herd are permanently on once-a-day milking. Bichan says this herd, mainly young and lower-producing cows, has taken a knock in the dry weather. Two hundred, instead of the usual 80 or so, were dried off at the beginning of April.

Kaiwaiwai Dairies – 275ha plus a 289ha leaseblock – peak-milks 900 cows.

Target production on both farms Is 400 kilograms of milksolids per cow. Current production is 350-360kg milksolids per cow.

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Kevin says his role involves ensuring staff are focused on hitting the farm’s key performance indicators, including bottom-line performance, cow performance and milk-production targets.

This season one challenge has been an empty rate of 11.4% after a higher number than usual of non-cycling cows. Kevin says the focus will be on ensuring cows are calving in slightly better condition, and trying to tighten the calving pattern. He is considering dropping 10-20 cows so that he can feed the herd a little better.

“This spring we did everything in our power to grow as much grass as we could and we didn’t have the surplus, which begs the question: Do we have too many cows? With a breeding worth of 146, the herd should be able to produce and be efficient so that the drop in stock numbers shouldn’t affect the production too much.”

In 2011-12 the farm hit record production of 200,000 kilograms of milksolids. Despite the weather being drier, they ere aiming for a similar figure in 2012-13.

The Clarks are also in partnership with Kevin’s brothers, Bernie and David, to 50:50 sharemilk a farm owned by another brother, Malcolm. The 180ha unit has 400 friesian cows milked by a contract milker employed by the brothers.

Kevin and Felicity Clark say their aim is to keep their farm performing at a high level and become even more environmentally friendly. They are fencing off waterways and are more conscious of effluent distribution and management.

Kevin Clark, seen here with cows on the feedpad, says the breeding focus has changed from production to traits. ‘People don’t have time to do one-on-one with animals any more, so they want an easy-care animal that will fit into their system.’

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8

DAIRY PEOPLE: Michael & Nicola Johnston/Phil Eccles

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

Couple get a share of equity flexible. With the high prices and the low forecast payout, we weren’t going to make any money buying palm kernel.”

The Johnstons grass-only system is supported Exciting times lie ahead for Michael and Nicola Johnston. On June 1, they became equity partners by Grant’s dry-stock block, where the calves go after weaning. All silage, balage, and hay used for with a 25% shareholding in Michael’s father’s supplement is made on farm. farm.

Johnston has been tackling a problem with bloat Michael is currently managing the farm at Toko, this season, which has resulted from a lot of clover in central Taranaki, where he has worked for the growth in the pasture. last six years.

The cause remains a bit of a mystery. Both He trained and worked as a mechanic before high use of urea and wintering cows off farm can coming home to help out when his father, Grant, lead to high clover growth. leased a block, doubling the size of the farm to But the Johnstons use 210 hectares (effective) and little urea generally, and have the herd to 600 cows.

Palm kernel: We used none this season. And Nicola and Michael they winter all of their cows Johnston have bought 25% wanted to leave at home. of the farm (the lease block Whatever the reason, is not included and will be ourselves flexible. clover was rife on the retained for only another two Johnston farm, and the bloat years). problem had Michael giving Grant Johnston, who the herds bloat oil and break-feeding to restrict the has owned his original piece of the farm since amount of clover they could eat.

1992, has expanded a couple of times by buying Two cows had to be stabbed to release the neighbouring blocks. pressure in their rumen and save their lives.

High palm kernel prices saw the Johnstons Johnston is now working on reducing his decide not to buy any in this season; instead, they empty rate, which was 13% last season. reduced herd numbers to 580 and fed only grass.

“Forty per cent of the empties were heifers.

Michael says this has paid off in maintaining This year I split them into first- and second-calvers production, particularly with the drought and old girls so that the stronger ones don’t boss conditions. He says he doesn’t want to get stuck the younger ones around.” using palm kernel if it isn’t going to turn a profit.

It has worked. The empty rate this season has “Some farmers have got themselves into the dropped to 9.5%, and only 16% of the empties palm-kernel system and will still buy it no matter were heifers. what the price. We wanted to leave ourselves

Kelly Deeks

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Above: Nicola and Mike Johnston with their one-year-old twin daughters, Mikayla (left) and Reese.

Below: The Johnstons run 600 cows on their Toko property in Taranaki.

Phil doubles production on Kelly Deeks Close attention to pasture management and cow fertility has seen production increase by more than 130% on the Hauraki Plains dairy farm the Eccles family bought seven years ago.

Phil Eccles is contract-milking on this farm, which he owns in equity partnership with his parents. The family’s home farm next door is managed by Jamie Bachelor.

Eccles spent some time away from the family farm working his way from farm assistant to contract milker, before returning home to manage his parents’ 250-cow farm 12 years ago.

The family expanded their operation seven years ago with the purchase of the 250-cow next-door farm. Two years later Eccles bought

a 15% share in the partnership, and has since bought another 5%.

Eighteen months after the purchase of the neighbouring block, Eccles moved from managing the home farm to contract-milking next door.

He says the two farms are totally different – even though they are side by side.

“This one is hilly, with peat and loam which gives a lot more variety and is really the reason I’m on it. The other farm is flat peat, with all the paddocks either one or 1.5-hectare square, and a really good shed. It is much easier for a manager to run it.”

The new farm was fairly run-down and producing around 500 kilograms of milksolids per hectare when he bought it as a going concern.

“We wanted to do at least 1000kg per

DAIRY PEOPLE: Paul & Clare Bishop

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

9

Here’s one way to get on with the neighbours Jo Bailey Paul and Clare Bishop see numerous benefits in owning a dairy unit next to the Taranaki proper ty they 50:50 sharemilk for PKW Farms.

“There is far less doubling up as we can share machinery and equipment between the two proper ties,” says Paul. “It makes it so much easier to manage feeding out, spraying and applying urea.”

The Bishops are in their 10th season as sharemilkers on PKW Farms’ 95-hectare proper ty at Ohangai, about 10 minutes south of Hawera, where they milk 320 cows.

Four years ago they bought the neighbouring 60ha (effective) unit where they employ a senior manager milking close to 200 jersey and crossbred cows on a once-a-day regime.

“It was always our long-term goal to get into farm ownership, but we thought it was going to be pretty hard,” says Paul. “Then this farm came up next door; we were able to buy it and still maintain our 50:50 job.

There is far less doubling up as we can share machinery and equipment between the two.

It made things a lot easier and was more financially beneficial.”

The Bishops live on the PKW farm, right next to the boundary fence between the two proper ties. And with just 400 metres between the cowsheds, it’s easy for them to keep “a close eye” on both operations.

“The system also allows us to swap a few cows over at the beginning of each season,” says Paul. “We might put some of the lighter heifers as two-year-olds over to the oncea-day farm. They tend to put on weight and maintain condition a bit better there.”

In 2011-12 the Bishops milked 36 heifers on the once-a-day farm, but in ‘12-13 all 88 heifers have been milked on the PKW farm.

“We progeny-test for CRV Ambreed, so having all the heifers on one farm saves us having to sor t them out for herd testing, weighing and TOPs inspections.”

They are aiming for 120,000 kilograms of milksolids on the PKW Farm and around 66,000kg on the once-a-day unit.

“We average around 63,300kg on our unit, which is not much less than the 67,300kg the previous owners did milking the same number of cows twice a day.”

Both proper ties have a mainly grassbased system, with 4ha of turnips grown for summer crop on the Bishop farm and 7ha on the PKW Farm, plus around 6ha of maize on a run-off 6km away.

All stock are wintered on farm with around 80 tonnes of molasses fed on the PKW Farm in spring.

Paul Bishop grew up on a dairy farm,

‘fairly run-down’ property hectare, as the farm next door was doing it,” Eccles says. “The herd was average, so we culled 20% of the original herd and bought in the bottom 10% of the herd next door to increase the genetics.”

Empty rates were sitting at 30% to 35% seven years ago; by last year the herd’s fertility had improved to 6% empty.

The pasture needed work too. Eccles has regrassed 10% of the peat every year, and “hoofed and toothed” the rest.

“I’ve grazed it hard and eradicated the bad grasses to bring the good grasses through,” he says.

The farm is now producing 1150kg milksolids per hectare.

Eccles says the three soil types on the farm complement one another quite well: “The farm is set up in blocks, and I calve on the

Proud to support Phil Eccles

peat, milk on the wetter stuff, and go through the winter on the loam which is semi-wet and semi-dry.”

Home-farm manager Jamie Bachelor milks all the colostrum and penicillin cows, while Eccles milks the wholemilk cows until they reach 250. The two herds are then split off.

As they are both running one-man operations, Bachelor and Eccles work together over calving.

Eccles runs a low-input system, using the Dairy New Zealand rotation planner over winter.

He buys in 50 tonnes of maize to dry off the cows at the end of the season, and some palm kernel over summer if needed.

He does normally make supplement on the farm, but he took advantage of last year’s excellent growing conditions to make 120 bales of silage.

Paul and Clare Bishop...there could be further change ahead, but they’ll ‘take it as it comes’.

spent five years as a greenkeeper’s apprentice and eight years driving milk tankers, before returning to dairying.

He star ted with Lepper ton Farms on wages, then was a lower-order sharemilker for five years before taking on 50:50 positions at three separate arms. The Bishops have one staff member on the PKW Farm and bring in a par t-timer during spring when they are “flat out”.

Paul Bishop provides milking relief for

the manager on their dairy unit, and Clare slots into the milking roster on the 50:50 farm as needed. She also does most of the bookwork.

Paul says they are happy to have the security of their dairy unit, but with only one season left with PKW, there could be changes ahead.

“We’ll just take it as it comes and make some decisions from there. We’re pretty relaxed about it”

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10

DAIRY PEOPLE: Tony & Loie Penwarden

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

PHOTOS Left, Loie and Tony Penwarden, with their daughters and a framed Mt Taranaki. Above, The Penwardens with their farm staff. Below, Washdown at the ‘top of the line’ 60-bail Dairymaster rotary milking shed on the Faull/Penwarden property. Opposite page, Some of the Penwardens’ 1150 cows enjoy the Taranaki environment.

Family first for workers Sue Russell By going into a 50:50 sharemilking partnership with a farm-owner carrying expansive visions for his property, Loie and Tony Penwarden have experienced a journey of exponential growth in farm and herd size over the last eight years.

When the couple moved to the original farm block at Tikorangi, six kilometres inland from Waitara, north of New Plymouth, the herd size was 420. The purchase of further hectares saw cow numbers reach 560 by 2012; following the acquisition of more land, the herd now stands at 1150 cows.

“The farm-owner has been aggressive in terms

of purchasing neighbouring land.,” says Tony Penwarden. “He has done this to try to build a large, sustainable dairy farm business capable of succeeding well into the future.”

It was owner Gavin Faull’s commitment to growth that saw him, in 2006, buy a “top-of-theline,, 60-bail Dairymaster European design milking shed. A point of difference from other rotaries at that time was the larger bail size, which allowed for the fit of fully fed holstein cows.

The rotary’s programming allows it to manage individual feeding regimes to support each cow’s potential milk production, though Tony Penwarden is not needing that technology at the moment.

The Penwardens were hitting their targets this season until continued dry conditions led to an early

cull, and the feeding of maize to cows earlier than normal. They used a fair bit of palm kernel for feed to compensate for lack of pasture.

Tony Penwarden is the first to acknowledge that seasonal weather patterns are really hard to predict.

Plans can be made, but there’s always a level of guesswork. Ability to think on your feet and adjust quickly, without panic, is an essential skill.

The Penwardens have five full-time and five relief-milking staff. It’s important for the couple to make sure their workers have down-time.

“We’ve made it a priority to look after them

• To page 11

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DAIRY PEOPLE: Adam Herrick

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

11

‘Bottom line says it all’ Karen Phelps Carterton-based Adam Herrick has a simple piece of advice for dairy farmers thinking of going to once-a-day milking: “Take the plunge; the benefits are worth it.”

His 114-hectare (effective) farm is milking 340 friesian-cross cows and is in its fourth season on once-a-day.

Herrick says that the benefits are clearly apparent.

“The bottom line says it all, to be honest.

Production is almost where it was at on twice-aday, but costs are significantly lower.”

He says his father tried once-a-day milking 12 years previously, and had had great success.

Adam Herrick decided to return to the system after becoming frustrated with high empty rates – which soared to 28% in his last season on twicea-day.

Once he went to a once-a-day milking, his empty rates plunged to 8% with no intervention.

They are now sitting below 6%.

“Seeing heifers I had reared empty on the twicea-day system was gutting.

“The bull we had used that year was not good either, so that was also a factor in the high empty rate. I did try supplementation with molasses, but it was expensive and I simply wasn’t seeing any results.

“Most farmers think that if you milk once a day, you get lots less milk,” he says. “I thought that I couldn’t afford to do it, but the opposite was

actually true – I could not afford not to.”

Farm production, which was 1050 kilograms of milksolids per hectare on twice-a-day, is now a very healthy 980kg/ha. In the 2011-12 season the farm produced 110,000kg milksolids. The aim this season was for a similar figure.

The herd is milked through a 28-a-side herringbone dairy shed, Herrick employs 1.5 labour units on the farm and says farming sustainably is the key. He feels he is now on the right track: Milking once a day has also given him the luxury of being able to cull selectively rather than

Most farmers think that it you milk once a day, you get lots less milk. I thought that I couldn’t afford to do it, but the opposite was actually true – I could not afford not to.

just culling empty cows. This means the herd is improving, he says.

“Since we went on once-a-day it doesn’t feel as though we are on the back foot any more. There is a bit of fat in the system. The herd is improving rather than going backwards.”

He also points to other benefits such as more time to complete jobs on the farm and a subsequent reduction in outgoings to contractors, happier staff, and healthier cows.

“We have no lame cows and race maintenance has halved. Shed expenses have also halved.”.

Adam Herrick grew up on a dairy farm and worked on farms around the Carterton region before going 50:50 sharemilking for his parents, Helen and Melvin, from 2001 to 2009.

He is now an equity manager on the property, which is supported by a 58ha run-off. His parents also own two other dairy farms, at Carterton and Eketahuna, which are run by Adam’s brothers, Ben and Michael.

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Friesian-cross ‘ideal for sharemilkers’ • From page 10 so that they can have family time,” says Lois Penwarden.

“That’s really important. We’re very fortunate with our full-time and relief workers; they’re strong and steady staff, and it means we can go away and not think about the farm.”

Loie is from northern California where was raised on a small ranch four hours from the border with Oregon. She met Tony in the United States, and the couple had the first two of their three daughters there before settling in New Zealand.

“My mum is 94 years old now and still lives with my brother,” she says. “I grew up on a small ranch with pigs, sheep and chooks just like Kiwi farm kids do here. Sadly, back in my part of the US, the logging and lumber mills have now all shut down.”

Tony says he finds he’s doing more admin work these days – “just to keep things flowing as they should”.

Milk is produced year round on the 270 hectares

of milking area. Another 89ha of run-off is used for standing off cows and for growing maize. In spring 850 cows calve, while a further 300 calve in autumn.

A friesian-cross herd is ideal for sharemilkers, says Tony Penwarden They’re big strong cows, and their calves are as well.

The rampant spread of yellow bristlegrass along the roadsides and its infiltration of maize blocks in the district is a concern. Penwarden thinks it has migrated from further north. It carries the potential to cause significant pasture damage.

“We’re doing careful selective spraying and it is a concern because it has caused big problems further north. Ag Research has been given a brief to research the grass and is four years into the study.”

Loie says they take satisfaction from seeing what has been achieved since they first stepped on to this land.

“It’s a good life. We have time away from the farm, knowing it is in capable hands and that’s a good situation to be in at our stage of life.”

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DAIRY PEOPLE: Ross & Joanne Soffe/Stewart Weatherstone

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

Ross gets out of bed for his shorthorns PHOTOS Left/below: Ross and Joanne Soffe, and their 340 cows, have spent the past season getting used to their new 130-hectare (effective) farm near Stratford.

Aim: ‘As big as possible’ Jo Bailey Ross Soffe says it wasn’t easy to sell his 55-hectare (effective) dairy farm at Tikorangi, in Taranaki. It had been in his family for four generations; but once he made the decision, there was no looking back.

“We have two children who are both involved in the industry, so selling the farm was something we had to do for succession planning,” he says.

“I’m pushing 60, so it was all par t of the progression towards me eventually stepping back from day-to-day milking.”

Since selling the proper ty in a “high value area”, he and his wife, Joanne, have bought a 130ha (effective) proper ty in flat to rolling country near Stratford.

The Soffes have increased their herd size from 185 cows to around 340 through buying a few cheaper and later-calving cows.

“Our aim was to get as big a farm and herd as possible, which is why we bought mostly budget cow,” says Ross Soffe.

“Some of them are better than others, but generally they complement our herd pretty well.”

There have been a few interesting teething problems getting used to a bigger farm and herd.

“It took a while to work my way around the farm and get used to logistical things like water-pumps, and a few bits and pieces in the cowshed I wasn’t familiar with.”

Then the cows star ted calving around two weeks earlier than expected.

“I’d given my workers the weekend off and arrived at the feedpad on my own to find six cows with calves in tow, which was my introduction to running a larger herd.”

He has also had some “fun” trying to get the cows through the 36-bail shed. Even a few months into the season, a “fair hunk of the

herd” wouldn’t go on unless the right cows were leading the way.

“We couldn’t believe it when we first tried to put them through the new shed as we had a herringbone shed at the old farm. But the cows just seemed to know the difference. It’s not as bad now, but it can still take a bit of time to get the girls star ted.”

The herd was heading for around 120,000 kilograms of milksolids in 2012-13, which made him pretty happy given the challenges.

“Overall I’m pleased with how things are going. We had two workers here for most of spring. I really enjoyed that as it freed me up to do more regular farm walks, and focus closely on pasture management, feed budgeting and some administration work.”

Joanne Soffe works par t-time on the farm and does most of the accounts and financial management.

Around 100 milking shor thorns are included in the Soffes’ herd, with the rest a mix of friesian, crossbred and a few jerseys.

“I’ve been interested in milking shor thorns for around 17 years after deciding to get into something a bit different and rare.

“At the time I had purebred friesians and thought the shor thorn was a good, compatible breed. They are solid, easy calving cows with pretty good feet and good health traits.”

Production-wise they are close to the average over the whole herd, he says.

Ross has had some good results with the breed at shows and dairy events. He is vicepresident and Red Breed Genetics convener for the New Zealand Milking Shor thorn Association.

Although thought to be the oldest breed in New Zealand, shor thorns are reasonably rare these days, making up only around 0.1% of total cow numbers.

“I enjoy my involvement with the milking shor thorns. They are a good interest and another reason to get out of bed and down to the cowshed in the morning.”

The New Zealand Milking Shor thorn Association will celebrate its centenary at its annual conference in Palmerston Nor th In June. It has already held its centenary show at the New Zealand Dairy Event in Feilding in January.

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Weatherstone farm a product Kelly Deeks Stewart Weatherstone’s large southern Wairarapa farm is undergoing another expansion phase – a new, 80-baIl rotary dairy shed and effluent irrigation system to cope with an additional 350 cows next season.

The Kahutara farm, near Featherston, has been in the Weatherstone family since 1931 when Stewart’s great grandfather, Alexander Weatherstone, bought 42 hectares and embarked on his dairy-farming career milking 80 cows through a walk-through dairy shed.

By 1960 the herd had increased to 180, and the farm was owned by Stewart’s grandparents, Alex and Nancy Weatherstone. In 1966 Stewart’s father, Bryan Weatherstone, came home to the farm after

studying for his Diploma of Agriculture at Massey University.

Bryan and Sherry Weatherstone went into partnership with Alex and Nancy in the dairy farm and rearing friesian bull calves. He worked the property and its 300 cows and 450 bulls until 1981, when a lower-order sharemilker was taken on to run the farm.

The Weatherstones had snapped up neighbouring properties over the years. The 1992 purchase of a property saw cow numbers increase to 640.

Stewart Weatherstone came home to the farm in 2000, after having been to university and travelling overseas. He worked for the sharemilker for half a season, then started developing part of the bull farm to bring into the dairy platform.

In 2001, after buying another neighbouring 37ha, the Weatherstones replaced their 36-a-side

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DAIRY PEOPLE: Terry & Gemma Adams

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

13

Get cows right, rest will follow Terry and Gemma Adams have put three years of hard work and passion for dairying farming into the 470 crossbred cows and 160 hectares (effective) they farm near Hawera. Now the cows and the land have competition for their attention – their threemonth-old daughter, Maddie (seen in Terry’s arms here).

Karen Phelps Increased production will follow naturally as their herd improves, Terry and Gemma Adams belief. To bring that belief to fruition, Gemma focuses on calf rearing and monitoring cow condition, while Terry concentrates on pasture management and feeding.

The couple farm 470 crossbred cows on a 160-hectare (effective) unit six kilometres from Hawera in South Taranaki. The herd is milked through a 36-bail rotary shed with automatic cup removers.

Their focus on herd improvement has largely been by necessity. The herd was not in the right condition when they bought it.

“They (the cows) turned up at the property light and we struggled to get weight on them,” says Terry. “Lameness was an issue around mating time, with a mob of 50 lame cows at the peak. We had to ensure cows were milked correctly and that stock was handled well to avoid more problems.”

Because there is a lot of concrete on their farm races, small stones can be a problem. They have brought in a road broom attached to a farm tractor to sweep the races, and this has helped ease this issue. The lame mob peaked last season at 15 cows.

The Adamses treat each lame cow themselves and record them so that they can keep tabs on which animals constantly present with problems. This provides a basis for culling.

They have also worked hard on the growth and development of their young stock, weighing them to ensure they meet target weights and culling as required.

Empty rates have been high (around 15%) for the last two years because the calving spread has been reduced a lot. They are aiming to

We had to ensure cows were milked correctly and stock handled well to avoid more problems.

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reduce the empty rate 12% in coming season.

Terry was raised on a farm in Opunake while Gemma is a townie and studied computer graphics as university. When Terry left school, he worked as a dairy assistant on other farms before spending a year on the family farm as a manager. He then went lower-order sharemilking for a year on a 180-cow unit in Rahotu, in coastal Taranaki.

When Gemma joined him they moved to a 50:50 sharemilking position in Pungarehu where they milked 200 cows for three years. They are now in their third season on the Hawera unit; 65 of its 160ha are gully land which they use for grazing young stock.

They done a lot of cleaning up, particularly fencing, gates, weed control and pasture management. With the support of the owners, Patricia and Lewis Hickman, the races have been re-metalled and re-concreted.

The Adamses employ two staff, one full-time, one part-time. This is their first position where they have been managing staff, and they say getting human-resources and general procedures correct has been key.

In their first season the couple milked 506

of generational expansion herringbone dairy shed with a 60-bail rotary, and upped cow numbers to 750.

They also put in two centre-pivots to irrigate 56ha. The original block had been fully irrigated since 1970 with gun irrigators, which are still operational.

By 2003 more neighbouring land had been bought and the herd stood at 1000 cows, producing 360,000 kilograms of milksolids.

The acquisition of another 100 cows in 2004 pushed production up to 390,000kg milksolids; in 2006, 1250 cows did 414,000kg milksolids.

In the 2004-05 season, a third of the herd went onto once-a-day milking because of the distance they had to travel to the dairy shed.

Another 30ha of pod irrigation and 30ha of pivot irrigation were added in 2006. Following the death of his grandmother, Stewart Weatherstone, his wife, Alexandra, and his parents, Bryan and Sherry,

formed their own company. Over the next two years more blocks were bought and more irrigation was added. By 2010, the herd was up to 1300 cows producing 461,000kg milksolids.

The purchase of a 486ha sheep and beef block in March 2011 effectively doubled the size of the farm. The herd grew to 2000 and the cows produced 620,000kg milksolids The total farm area is now 1017ha, plus 120ha of leased and 100ha of owned run-off land. There is another 30ha on the south side of the original block where 110 jersey bulls are run. .

This season, still with 2000 cows, Stewart Weatherstone is on target for 680,000kg milksolids.

Two thirds of the herd are now on once-a-day milking.

The new dairy shed is being is being built on the former sheep-and-beef block.

cows, but say they feel they struggled to feed them properly.

After they cut herd numbers, production has increased each season even though they have bought the same amount of feed each year. First season: 155,000 kilograms of milksolids; last season 168,000kg with 475 cows; this season: 175,000kg target with fewer cows.

On average the Adams buy in 240 tonnes of palm kernel a season. They used to also buy in maize, but now grow this on farm.

Busy times are ahead as the couple’s first child, daughter Maddie, arrived on the scene just three months ago. They say they have their minds on farm ownership, whether it be outright ownership or equity partnership.

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DAIRY PEOPLE: Ric & Marianne Awburn

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

Ric Aburn (centre) says that every morning when he wakes up, he ‘just can’t wait to get out on the farm and be with the staff’ (they’re the other four in the photo). ‘It’s that good,’ he adds,

Boss ‘their mate at times Sue Russell Waipa farmer Ric Awburn is putting good time into his most important asset – his staff.

For a few weeks he set aside up to an hour each day, Monday to Friday, to listen and talk one-on-one to his staff on a whole raft of issues, He believes it will pay dividends down the track.

“With four full-time staff plus me working on the farm and with everyday busy, it was impossible to spend good quality time with them one-on-one. I made the decision to set aside time formally every day for a week, rotating through each staff member.

I can see it has proving very worthwhile from their feedback.”

He discovered that the conversations were not confined only to practical farming matters, and he adopted the attitude he was there to listen and give his feedback on anything his workers wanted to talk

I do this in my own time having done a day’s work on the farm. It’s my way of showing the commitment and regard I have to each of them. about – things such as money management, career planning, goal setting, as well as the practical stuff.

He has also committed to continuing this regime for as long as the staff find it useful.

“I do this in my own time having done my day’s work on the farm, and it is something I know they really appreciate. It’s my way of showing the commitment and regard I have to each of them”, says Awburn.

His 235-hectare farm is about 20 kilometres south of Te Awamutu, and carries 850 crossbred cows. It has two herringbone milking sheds –

30-a-side and 36-a-side – which, in the 2012-13 season, milked 815 cows twice daily.

Milking the larger herd of 515 cows takes two and a half to three hours a time. Another 170 replacement calves are being reared off site and will come into the herd as two-year-olds.

Awburn has worked the farm for 11 seasons now, taking it from milking 400 cows on 120 hectares to its current size and production.

In terms of imported feed, the farm is classed as a top of system 2/bottom of system 3 farm with 1.8 tonnes of maize/palm kernel per hectare.

“Having stable staff of the calibre I have has meant that I’m stepping back a little more these days from the direct hands-on work and concentrating more on running the business side of the farm,” he says.

“The value of having consistent staff who know the farm as well as I do cannot be underestimated,” he adds.

And if life on the farm wasn’t busy enough, it has moved up a gear or two in the form of the arrival of baby Noah who Ric and wife Marianne welcomed into the family around a year ago.

“Marrying Marianne was the best investment I ever made,” says Ric. “Now we have Noah, who loves being out with us on the farm. He’ll sit and watch the cows for ages while we’re milking and it’s great to have him with us.”

Talking more about the fine line between being a boss and being a mate to his staff, it’s easy to discern just how much Awburn cares for them all.

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DAIRY PEOPLE: Tony & Lesley Landers

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

Success with transplants leads to repeat

15

PHOTOS Some of Tony and Lesley Landers’ treasured possessions...sons Joshua and Samuel (left), and Glenui 5Star Honeydrop ET (below), one of the results of their embryo transplant trial.

Karen Phelps

Tony, Samuel and Lesley Landers.

Believing that a good herd is the basis to a successful dairy system, Tony and Lesley Landers has trialled embryo transplant work on their best cows over the last two years.

When the first of these animals calved last spring, the result was six calves. One was of such high quality it was sold to Livestock Improvement Corporation and will be listed in this year’s sire catalogue.

When the Landers formed their pedigree jersey Glenui Stud, they started with a very low breedingworth herd. By using a targeted breeding and buying programme focused on good functional cows producing high milksolids, their herd’s breeding worth now ranks in the country’s top 1%.

Because of the success of their embryo

of need’

transplants, and to fast-track herd improvements, the couple plan to extend their work to 50 cows this season and hope to get at least 20 calves.

Lesley’s parents were dairy farmers in the Manawatu and Tony’s in Taranaki. Tony gained a Bachelor of Agriculture at Massey University, worked on a local farm for a year, then did an agricultural exchange on a dairy farm just out of Winnipeg, Canada and in the mountains in Ireland.

He returned home to contract-milk 180 cows on his parent’s farm at Kaupokonui.

Two years later he progressed to 50:50 sharemilking and continued for 20 years. He developed his business by going into an equity partnership on another farm with family. This helped the Landers finance their way into their first farm, 60 hectares in Taranaki; they put a lowerorder sharemilker on here while continuing to sharemilk for Tony’s parents. Five years later they sold this farm and bought a block next to Tony’s parents where they are now based.

The Landers are heading into their fifth season on this unit – 58ha and 55ha blocks leased from

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Tony’s parents, plus a 12ha run-off. In their first season they ran the two blocks separately, but quickly built a 44-bail rotary shed to service both.

They milked 330 cows in 2012-13 and next season plan to buy a 24ha block next door and increase herd numbers to 430.

The coastal farm backs onto the Kaupokonui River...sandy stony soils at the back of the farm which can dry out quickly. There is no water irrigation, so they calving early (July 1) and try to get as much production as they can before dry conditions set in. They make silage on farm and buy in palm kernel as needed, typically around 150 tonnes a season.

They say having to manage a dryland farm helped them cope with drought this year. They dried off a month earlier, estimating production of around 111,000 kilograms of milksolids.

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“You’re not only their boss, you’re their mate at times of need, and the only way I see that you gain their confidence and respect is to lead by example.

“This is what I try to do all the time. I was lucky enough when I started out to have Peter Wilson, who owned the farm outright then, as my boss.

He was always there for me and I’m just doing the same for my own staff now.”

Awburn says he gains a great deal of personal

satisfaction from watching his staff develop. He’s tried to help them set realistic goals so they can experience the realisation of them.

He says he banked on potential when he took on each of his staff members, and he hasn’t been let down.

“Every morning when I wake up, I just can’t wait to get out on the farm and be with the staff. It’s that good.”

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16

ON FARM: PKW Inc/Bruce & Annette Cave

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

PKW Incorporation owns 14 dairy farms, four dry-stock units, and two calf-rearing units. It managed 3000 hectares.

PKW digs in for the long haul Neil Grant Since its incorporation in 1976, Paraninihi ki Waitotara Incorporation (PKW) has become a major economic player in Taranaki. Its aim is to gradually re-acquire land held under perpetual leases as it

becomes available, and manage it for the benefit of its Maori shareholders.

The land was confiscated in 1865. Since then a series of controversial legislative actions have enabled PKW, and other such Maori bodies, to gradually negotiate fairer rents, and to buy the land back at market rates.

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Twenty thousand hectares of land is under perpetual lease. PKW currently manages 3000ha. It is clearly a long-term strategy.

Farming is the main driver. PWK has 14 dairy farms; three dry-stock units and one under development; and a calf rearing unit, with another to come.

The dairy farms are run as managed units, 50:50 shareholder units, and variable-order or contract-milker farms.

“We want to show people a pathway so that we can retain them in the business,” says PKW’s dairy operations manager, Shane Miles. “The mixture of systems gives us the ability to hire who we want to hire.”

PKW chief executive officer,Dion Tuuta adds: “It ties back to getting more Taranaki Maori onto their land. To be successful, we have to be in control.

But it is pleasing to note that five out of the 14 managers or sharemilkers are Taranaki Maori.

“The managed option is the entry point. We expect they will move up through the system.

We are happy with the way it’s heading. But with success... well... when you achieve goals, you have got to push yourself a bit more.”

There is a sense of caution about each step. The incorporation does not want to overheat the system.

Some earlier investments were rather less than successful, so the group now seeks to ensure its systems are capable of dealing with growth.

“We could buy 10 farms tomorrow, but we don’t

have the capacity to take on that much work,” says Tuuta. “I’m a naturally conservative person. I think we have made extremely good progress.”

The calf-rearing units are an innovative idea that is proving successful. The first one has 300 head, and runs on one of the commercial farms.

The idea is that every farm grows its own replacements as far as possible, and the units will produce a surplus to supply new acquisitions without being exposed to the market. The calculation is that they can produce calves at 65-70% of market price. The proposed unit on a dedicated block will have 600 head, growing to 1200 when appropriate.

Another possibility is to branch into dairy-goat farming. Some of the leases they buy back are relatively small, and suitable for such a venture.

Already Taranaki’s biggest supplier to Fonterra, PKW is happy to look outside itself. Board member Taari Nicholas serves on the board of a Maori milk processor, Miraka Ltd, and another PKW board member, David McLeod, serves on Fonterra’s board.

Closer relationships are being developed with Taranaki iwi groups enhancing the treaty activity in the province. A joint venture with two tribal groups now produces 8% of New Zealand’s lobster exports.

Says Tuuta: “If we total up all these assets, and look at the oil and gas work going on, our aggregate is comparable to Ngai Tahu’s.”

Twice-a-day transforms Karen Phelps A new 54-bail rotary dairy has enabled Bruce and Annette Cave to put their herd on twice-a-day milking, increasing production by a staggering 100,000 kilograms of milksolids in the last two seasons.

The shed – which has a Waikato Milking Systems plant including automatic cup removers, automatic weighing and drafting and an in-shed feeding system – is used alongside the Caves’ original 40-a-side herringbone.

“We were so limited trying to milk 1200 cows through a 40-a-side shed,” says Bruce Cave.

“The farm is an awkward shape – nearly five kilometres to the back of the farm from the shed and three kilometres in the other direction. Now our cows don’t have to walk more than 2.5km to the shed.”

Once the majority of the spring cows have calved,

the Caves shift the autumn herd out of the rotary dairy and back into the herringbone as in-shed feeding is not so essential once the herd is getting towards the end of lactation. The herringbone is closed when the autumn herd dries off.

The Caves, who farm on the coast near Whanganui, have achieved their healthy production despite dairying on marginal ground. In fact when they decided to convert their drystock farm to dairy to increase profitability in 1992, the neighbours thought they were mad. Light sandy soils make it difficult to consistently grow grass.

However, Bruce had grown up on the farm and returned to work there after completing an agricultural science degree at Massey University.

During his study he did practical work on a coastal-sand, dairy farm – experience that proved invaluable when the Caves decided to convert the family farm.

They have invested heavily in irrigation, with four centre-pivots irrigating 230 hectares of the

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ON FARM: Matthew MacInnes

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

17

Quest for knowledge in focus Kelly Deeks A quest for knowledge saw Hauraki Plains dairy farming family the MacInnes set up their family farm as a focus farm for a Dairy New Zealandfunded initiative, providing a benchmark for best practice for local farmers.

The focus-farm project is led by a group of Hauraki Plains dairy farmers who have formed the P3 Dairy Charitable Trust, where P3 stands for Profitability and Progressive on the Plains.

The 177-hectare focus farm, near Thames, is owned by Angus and Karen MacInnes, and lowerorder sharemilked by their son, Matt.

Matt MacInnes brought his experience of working on another family farm to the focus farm when he began sharemilking there two seasons ago.

This was the same season the MacInnes farm became a focus farm because it fitted the requirement to be an average Hauraki Plains dairy farm.

“There’s a lot of work done around the place on benchmarking the nation’s numbers, but there’s not a lot done in our area,” Matt MacInnes says.

“We’re trying to get some numbers for local farmers and, at the same time, the focus farm is a great opportunity for us to gain access to the valuable knowledge held by the P3 Dairy Group and the Dairy NZ consultants with whom we meet every fortnight.”

MacInnes says some systems have changed since the property became a focus farm, including

more use of grass instead of meal. The P3 group employs a technician to do a farm walk weekly, and the information collected has helped MacInnes know what he’s got in the paddocks and how use it more effectively.

He has also been working on improving the farm’s calving spread over the past two seasons; it was a big problem when he came to the farm two seasons ago, he says.

“This year we’ve made a gain in that. Last season we had 55% of the herd calved in the first six weeks, but after our pregnancy testing this year, it was projected we would have 82% calved in the first six weeks of next season.

He says all the cows calved in excellent condition, all well over condition score 5, and although they lost some weight because of a feed deficit before mating, it wasn’t enough to make much difference.

The farm has been in the MacInnes family since 1979. It was originally 80ha, and 30ha was added over the years. Until this season the farm had been 300 cows; when a further 70ha was added, cow numbers were upped to 500.

The larger herd is still being milked through the farm’s 36-a-side herringbone dairy shed. MacInnes says the main problem arising from the additional cow numbers has been the stand-off area, which is too small. This has been enlarged in readiness for next season as a wet spring would require cows to be kept off the paddocks.

MacInnes’s 2012-13 production target was about the same as last season – 333 kilograms of milksolids per cow.

PHOTOS A field day on Matthew McInnes’s 180-hectare Dairy New Zealand focus farm on the Hauraki Plains offered farmers the opportunity of a good look and a yearn about many matters, including the effluent pond (left), the pasture (top) and the crop (above).

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production on sandy land 550ha milking platform. The irrigated land helps them cope with farming on the marginal soils.

The Caves are making a big effort to improve cow condition. While Bruce says it is certainly more challenging to keep good cow condition on twice-a-day milking, he estimates that the herd has gone up a condition score.

A consultant helps them get the best out of their new in-shed feed system and, when the shed technology is completely up and running, Bruce Cave expects further improvements.

They have been feeding a maximum of 1kg of palm kernel and 2kg of barley a day to the herd, but say they have no desire to become a high-input system. They grow barley on their 240-hectare run-off and say this has worked out better for them than maize.

“Maize is very expensive to grow and, because we are growing it on marginal land, we were prepared to grow it only on the best portion of the run-off. But because barley is cheaper to grow, we

are more willing to take a punt on some of the other paddocks in the run-off. This means the run-off is developing better because we are now planting a larger portion of it and re-grassing after, which helps us with our wintering as well.”

He says they have been particularly fortunate to have excellent contract milkers, Gerard and Heni O’Donnell, who have been on the staff since before the conversion. The O’Donnells employ four staff.

Other benefits to having two milking sheds are happier staff and reduced hours in the shed. Staff numbers have been remained the same despite the addition of the second shed.

The Caves were aiming for 425,000kg milksolids in the 2012-13 season. In the 2011-12 season they achieved 389,000kg. Their pre-new dairy shed best was 345,000kg and they were averaging 320,000kg.

“I’m confident we can get more production out of the farm as it is now without further major capital expense,” says Bruce Cave.

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ON FARM: Don & Wilma Schimanski

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

More cows bring their award Karen Phelps Having entered the national Dairy Business of the Year contest twice before, Don and Wilma Schimanski realised a key to success would be increasing their stocking rate.

The Otorohanga couple were right. And the result? They won the 2012 supreme award.

The Schimanskis now work to a stocking rate of 4.28 cows per hectare, and although they run a high-input system (which normally has a lower profit margin), their 52% margin is well above the New Zealand average of 43-44%.

Their cost of production is around $3.50 per kilogram – the top 10 average in the Waikato is $3.62 and, overall $4.37; the New Zealand top 10 average is $3.41 and, overall, $4.21.

Don Schimanski says feeding his cows fully has always been a priority for him. He realised after entering the competition for the first time in 2010 that to do this and still ensure his system was profitable, his cow numbers had to rise: “By increasing stock numbers, we graze more efficiently because we have to. It has made us improve in a lot of key areas. We also make better use of the investment we have made in our shed.”

The Schimanskis entered the competition, organised by Intelact director Chris Pyke, in 2010 to gain a better understanding of the financial aspects of their business. They were finalists that year and won the high-supplement award in 2011.

“It’s hard to work on some aspects of your farm by yourself,” says Schimanski. “The competition has shown us what areas we need to work on to streamline the business.”

The couple began dairy farming in 1991 and built up their business by putting three farms together. They now peak-milk 730 kiwicross cows

Wilma and Don Schimanski...low-cost production on a high-input system. on 175 hectares (effective). About 40% of the farm is peat, 40% Puniu silt loam (which can be damaged easily), 10% Mairoa ash and 10% clay.

To feed their cows fully, they pay particular attention to grazing at the three-leaf stage. They also protect their pastures to minimise damage from pugging and mud in the wet by standing the cows off when it rains.

Their environmental work includes planting up drains. For the last three years they have sprayed effluent back on 160ha of their farm through a travelling irrigator.

In the 2010-11 season, on which the competition was judged, the Schimanskis returned 13.8% profit on capital and an operating profit of $8814 per hectare. Their operating profit margin was 52.2%.

So how do they manage to achieve such lowcost production on a high-input farm?

Don Schimanski says one of the keys has been the fully computerised Westfalia 54-bail rotary they built to replace two basic, herringbone sheds.

The new shed has helped create labour efficiencies by freeing up staff for other on-farm

tasks – and this has also been a key factor in their impressive production costs, he says. They have also followed philosophy of constant attention to creating efficiency in every area of the business.

For example, about 60% of the feed the cows eat is pasture; 40% is brought-in feed, making this a key operating cost. To reduce costs, Schimanski buys the raw ingredients for his supplement and mixes it himself rather than buying it pre-mixed.

When the Schimanskis do buy in feed, it is

• To page 19

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ON FARM: Mathew & Megan Kernohan

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

19

Long walks push cows to limits of performance Jo Bailey Fourth-generation farmer Mathew Kernohan enjoys the input of his parents and grandfather on the family farm he and wife Megan run just north of Levin.

“It’s great having lots of family around and getting an old-school perspective on things occasionally,” he says.

Mat and Megan 50:50 sharemillk 400 crossbred cows on a long, narrow (3.6 kilometres long, but just 200 metres wide), 95-hectare property owned

by Mat’s parents, Peter and Pam Kernohan.

A further 12ha next door is leased from Mat’s grandfather, Robert (Bert) Kernohan, along with a 70ha lease block adjacent to the main farm, part of which is incorporated into the milking platform.

“The long walks have pushed us to the limits of what we can get out of our cows on a grass-based system,” says Mat Kernohan. “That’s why I’m considering dropping the herd-size to around 355 and keeping it closer to home.”

The Kernohans have just sold a run-off block so that they can run a few more dry cows or young stock on the lease farm. They hope to maintain the same operating profits.

Mat and his parents converted the home farm six years ago, but this isn’t the first time it has been run as a dairy unit.

Peter and Pam Kernohan used to milk on the property, but gave up about 20 years ago to go into bull beef, fallow deer, cropping and contracting.

PHOTOS: Above, Mat and Megan Kernohan, with Paige,aged two-and-a-half, and baby Jack. Below, The Kernohans say they would like to run more cows if they got the opportunity to buy more land close by.

Lower left, Mat Kernohan and Paige in father-and-daughter pose.

“We decided to re-convert the farm in time for the 2007-08 season as we thought it was the best way to pull in an income that would sustain two families and eventually see the next generation into the property,” says Mat. The dairy shed was extended and upgraded with new Waikato Super 4 plant, including automatic cup removers and teat sprayers.

The Kernohans milked 236 cows in the first season and have gradually increased both cow numbers and production – from 380 kilograms of milksolids per cow in the first year to an expected 420kg in the 2012-13 season.

“We run a low-input system, but are constantly fine-tuning our breeding, grass management and grass quality. This has resulted in good production gains,” says Mat. He is helped by a full-time staff member, Scott Johnson, and a part-timer, Hamish Faint, who relieves every weekend.

“They are both great guys. Hamish is only 19; he has bought himself a tractor and baler, so he

does some conventional baling for us as well.”

Peter and Pam Kernohan continue to live in the original homestead on the home farm and help out “every day”, says Mat. “We own other land jointly as well, so we all pitch in and do whatever needs doing. Dad is mainly involved in the development side of the dairy farm and also helps with haymaking, cropping and silage.”

Grandfather Bert has just turned 91, but still likes to get around the farm on his motorbike to keep an eye on things.

Megan Kernohan looks after the young stock – both on the farm and at home. The couple have two young children – Paige, aged two-and-ahalf, and Jack, who was born at the beginning of February.

“We’re really happy with how things are going,” says Mat. “Although we’ve pushed the farm to its capacity, we would definitely like to run more cows if we get the opportunity to acquire more land close by.”

‘It’s about critiquing yourself’ • From page 18

determined by price and not the type of feed.

“It’s about critiquing yourself in everything you do. I keep asking myself ‘Can it be done better?’ I talk to other people and watch other farmers. I’m constantly learning.”

The Schimanskis says another important factor has been making full use of a good farm adviser.

“He’s also my staff educator,” says Don. “When I walk the farm with the adviser, I get all my staff to come along as well if possible so that they can learn too.”

The Schimanskis say they are still learning as well. Their 2012-13 production was 340,000 kilograms of milksolids – down from the

372,000kg achieved in the previous season because of an error in their supplement purchases in ‘12-13.

Don explains: “We had used tapioca before, but this batch wasn’t the same quality. We were well ahead in production in October, but that fell back fast once we put the cows on the tapioca. We were losing 100-200kg milksolids per day.”

The Schimanskis employ three full-time staff, which one labour unit more than in 2011-12 to allow Don to step back from the business.

And, they say, there will no free rides for their four children.

“I didn’t get given what I’ve got,” says Don.” I had to work for it, so they can work for what they want too.”

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20

ON FARM: Kevin Ferris/Philip Uhlenberg

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

‘Minimum becomes a chore’ If we don’t keep New

Neil Grant

Zealand as a major

Kevin Ferris is a Fonterra Shareholders’ Council member. His base is in Te Awamutu, but his dairying vision is much wider.

Two sons, John and Nick, manage family farms in the Waikato and Southland. The Southland farm, at Dipton West, has just undergone a major redevelopment.

What had been one large farm has been split into two. A new shed has been built. Each farm has 1100 cows split into two herds. The units are pretty much mirror images of each other as far as sheds, paddocks and how they operate are concerned “They are run as one entity,” Kevin Ferris says, “ but they are integrated. The staff are allocated to one farm or the other, but any of them can go to the other farm and there are no issues,” The arrangement gives staffing roster flexibility, but the major advantage the change has brought about is the reduction in cow walking times Ferris says they have no difficulty getting good staff, and he believes this is largely because staff do not spend long hours in the sheds.

Automation means one person can run the shed from a central keyboard console. There is no need to go and turn taps on or off; the effluent disposal is centrally controlled; if supplement feeding is required for animal health or condition, it is easily arranged; drafting and washing systems are automated.

The farms have no irrigation.

“You need to have management systems aligned with grass growth,” Ferris reckons.

This takes care of seasonal changes, although some supplement may be required in extreme circumstances.

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John (left) and Kevin Ferris thrash out a dairy-farming issue. farm was set up. Pasture renewal is not on the agenda.

“We manage the pasture so that it never needs renewing by fertilising and how you graze it.

Renewal means losing grass. If you have to renew it, you are in the coffin before it comes right.”

Travel is a constant in Ferris’s life. He goes wherever he is needed.

“I do the capital works and administration of the systems so that the guys can put into place what needs to be done. I ensure everyone gets the operations right “We have scale, so we can build the infrastructure to get compliance and make sure the farms look aesthetically and operationally acceptable to the public.”

Effluent disposal is a case in point. You can make it easy or difficult to operate, he says.

“The bells and whistles lower the risk and amount of time people spend. If you follow Dairy New Zealand codes, you come out with something good that gives you a return on investment, and is people friendly. If you do the minimum, it becomes a chore for people.”

He says his Shareholders’ Council work cuts into his on-farm time, but he finds it rewarding.

“If you are going to do it, do it well. You need to learn about Fonterra and the industry so that you can be of benefit to the farmers you represent. You also need to be more conscious of what you do on your own farm and show leadership so as to be an example.”

He believes the council has helped the board and shareholders make Fonterra a better company.

He hears of companies and corporations wanting to get closer to their customers or shareholders, and thinks the Fonterra model is a good example of how to do that.

If he has concerns about New Zealand’s economic future, they stem from the fact that the country is a small player in a big market “Our competition is overseas. We’re too small to have two businesses in the economy the same size as Fonterra competing with each other. If we don’t keep New Zealand as a major player in international trading, we’ll be big losers.”

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friesians. We’re trying to tone them down a little bit so that they don’t do too much damage on the swamp.

Kelly Deeks Dairy farming is a family affair for Phillip Uhlenberg, who farms in an equity partnership with his parents on one of three family-owned properties, all within a couple of kilometres of one another, at Midhurst, in Taranaki.

The other two properties are farmed by his brother and sister, Richard Uhlenberg and Sarah Fenton. Richard is on a 100-hectare dairy farm at nearby York Rd, while Sarah is on the 180ha home farm.

Philip Uhlenberg’s farm is 120ha and he started this season milking 310 cows. The farm has been

ON FARM: Steven & Maria Poole

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

21

Maria and Steven Poole in their 60-bail De Laval dairy shed, which was built in April last year. The shed is equipped with an AIPRO herd management system. The new shed is sited in a more central position on the 210-hectare farm near Manaia, in Taranaki. This has reduced walking time and distance for the Pooles’ 820 friesian and friesiancross cows.

Pair work way to bigger Poole Sue Russell Taranaki dairy farmer Steven Poole has always been a man of the land and though this year’s dry patch has thrown a fair share of challenges his way, he appreciates that farming is a good life with many rewards.

Poole has worked his way up through the sharemilking system, beginning with a 20% partnership in the mid-1980s on a farm 16 kilometres from where he now runs 820 friesian/friesian-cross cows on 210 hectares near Manaia, in South Taranaki. Last season the herd produced 385,000 kilograms of milksolids.

“I worked 10 years building cow numbers and buying and selling smaller blocks of land to get to a point where I could buy our current farm,” he says.

I had always wanted to achieve sufficient scale to employ staff – to get to a place where I could get out of the shed.”

Having farmed for so long around the mountain (Mt Taranaki), he knows the area has a unique pattern of micro-climates.

“I grow most of the maize I feed out on the farm and at the 42ha run-off down the road, plus this year I’ve been buying in extra palm kernel. My cows have been pretty much on a total mixed ration, and the cost of that has been squeezing the margins.”

He says he has been having to “crunch the numbers”, with the priority of maintaining the best possible cow condition and achieving maximum days in milk. It has helped to talk to other farmers in the district who have been experiencing similar challenges.

quality of three herds in the family for 10 years, and this is Uhlenberg’s second season milking on it.

He says it was reasonably well set up when bought by his parents. The only development the family has done has been the improvement of some of the races to reduce the distance the cows have to travel to the dairy shed.

The property is on a swamp and holds on to moisture pretty well. Uhlenberg has still been stung by the drought, but says there are farms down the road that are a lot worse off than his.

He dried off his heifers on March 14 to help retain their condition for next season. Culls were offloaded early this year as well. By April he was still milking 230 cows.

For the past couple of years, the Uhlenberg family has been improving the quality of the herds on each of the three properties.

Philip Uhlenberg says his herd was made up four years ago from a lot of budget cows, but he is now getting some good young stock coming into it. To assist with this, all three farms have wintermilked for the past two seasons.

Uhlenberg says the quality of the herd has been his main focus for the past two seasons.

“We’ve been building up the AB replacements so that we have plenty of heifers there for the coming years,” he says.

“For the past couple of years we’ve been getting in some Ambreed semen from some bigger jersey cows. When my parents bought the property, the base of the herd was mainly large friesians. We’re

trying to tone them down a little bit so that they don’t do too much damage on the swamp.”

His farm is supported by a 40ha run-off block right across the road, which the family has leased for four years.

“You talk about it – it’s a problem shared. It’s important to keep the whole team informed on the situation and possible outcomes. This includes banks, accountant and farm staff.

Poole employs three full-time staff, and his wife, Maria, looks after the calves and business

Manager Steffen Sahin (right) and second-incommand Jarrico Murray...priority during the drought was to maintain the best possible cow condition and achieve maximum days in milk.

bookwork. Their five children – Isaac, Louis, Madeleine, Emily and William – are from 16 to seven. The two eldest are at Francis Douglas Memorial College, in New Plymouth, which has a working farm attached to it.

In April last year, the Pooles built a new and more centralised De Laval 60-bail rotary shed, with a built-in AlPRO herd management that enables tracking of each cow’s performance.

Outside the farm, Steven Poole is in his third year as an elected farmer director of Livestock Improvement Corporation. He finds the governance role interesting and rewarding work. He finds monthly meetings in Hamilton help him keep his finger on the pulse of new research.

“It’s great being involved in LIC because the focus is all about improving the productivity and profitability of our shareholders and developing systems and technology that make it easier to farm. This obviously has a direct and positive impact on my own business, so it’s great to see the benefits flow right through.”

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22

ON FARM: Bryan & Bridget Frost

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

PHOTOS: Above – Brian and Bridget Frost (right) are thrilled with the performance of their tall fescue during this year’s drought. Their paddocks (left) have stood oasis-like green in the Tauhei area of the Waikato. Lower right –A close-up look at the growth the Frosts have continued to enjoy right through summer and autumn.

Fescue stands tall in drought Karen Phelps

Brian and Bridget Frost’s Waikato farm has been like an oasis in the midst of a dry region. Their bright green paddocks have stood in stark contrast to the parched yellow farms surrounding them.

The Frosts are keen to share their secret with other farmers as it has helped them weather this year’s the summer/autumn drought conditions better than most.

The couple have replanted nearly their entire 74 hectares (effective) at Tauhei, west of Morrinsville, in tall fescue species, in particular Easton MaxP, from Agricom.

The species has been developed from Agricom’s Advance tall fescue, which the Frosts have also tried.

They say Easton MaxP has better persistence than other species they have used on the farm, and they have found it very suitable to cope with the hot summers. Easton MaxP continues to produce in higher temperatures where ryegrass plants can shut down, they say.

The Frosts’ aggressive pasture-replacement programme dates back to when they began to experience a lot of problems with grass staggers because of the high-endophyte ryegrass with which the farm was originally planted. The property was also prone to regular dry spells.

Tall fescue species seemed the obvious choice to them.

The species has done well in the dry conditions

because of its long taproot and its ability, once established, to use water more efficiently than ryegrass.

The Frosts say this year’s extremely dry weather conditions have had minimal effect on their farming operation.

They think their property is unique in New Zealand. They know of no other farm that is virtually all planted in tall fescue. They hope their success using tall fescue species will inspire other farmers to give it a go.

However, while a field day on the farm in February resulted in a lot of interest from local farmers in what they are doing, the Frosts suspect many farmers are still reluctant to change from traditional ryegrass species. “Tall fescue needs to be managed differently and I think that puts a lot of people off,� says Brian Frost. “You can’t manage it like ryegrass with long rotations. We have to keep it in a good growing condition all the time so that it’s not rank. We have a higher stocking rate to keep the grass length down. If I think a paddock has got too rank, I mow in front of the herd. But the results are worth it.�

He says the tall fescue species has also increased insect tolerance and persistence, particularly to black beetle.

Neither of the Frosts have come from a farming background.

Brian worked on farms during his school holidays, found himself hooked, joined the Federated Farmers cadet scheme when he left

school, and went on to do a Diploma in Agriculture at Massey University.

He contract-milked 90 cows on the Taieri Plains, just south of Dunedin, for six years, then 50:50-sharemilked 200 cows there for the next five years. In 1989 he bought his first farm, on the Taieri. After he and Bridget were married, they sold this unit and bought their present farm at Tauhei.

They milk 325 crossbred cows through a 24-a-side herringbone shed with automatic cup removers, Protrack and an in-shed feeding system.

This season they have fed the herd up to seven

kilograms of palm kernel and maize a day, and have bought in 300 tonnes of grass silage.

In their first season on the farm, they produced 87,000 kilograms of milksolids from their 260 cows. This season they are on track for 180,000kg from 325 cows.

The farm employs two full-time staff and Bridget helps out with calving, relief milking and the accounts. Their aim is to bring a farm manager on board, and buy a run-off for young stock.

The Frosts have four children: Mitchel, 15, Siobhan, 14, Stafford, 12 and Devon, 10.

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ON FARM: Scope Dairy Ltd

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

23

Partners and partners: From left, Brad Eyre and his girlfriend, Ellen Toohey, James Welch and his fiancee, Laura Kay.

Partnership adds scope Karen Phelps A couple of ambitious, young farmers have found they can fast-track their dairy careers by joining forces. Brad Eyre and James Welch, both 27, are contract-milking three dairy farms in the Tokanui area for Brad’s uncle Jim Kirkham.

They say that this approach is allowing them to develop their business quicker.

“We decided to bite the bullet and pay staff rather than day-to-day manage the farms,” says Eyre. “We have found that if we skimp on staff, it doesn’t work in our favour. Not being stuck in the shed all the time allows us to see and take advantage of opportunities,” says Eyre.

Welch and Eyre met at university, and Welch briefly worked for Eyre on Oakwood Farm, a 180-hectare unit milking 730 cows that Eyre was managing for his uncle, Jim Kirkham. Welch had previously worked for J.D.Wallace, managing a 900-cow operation at Te Kuiti.

The two of them have formed Scope Dairy Ltd and contract-milk Oakwood’s now 780-crossbred herd through a 50-bail rotary shed.

They also contract-milk Kirkham’s Allen Oaks (114ha with 430 friesian crossbreds) and Pepi Oaks (135ha with 560 jerseys) farms.

It’s undeniably a big jump for the pair, but they say they are relishing the challenges that largescale farming brings.

They say sound management practices have been key as the farms employ seven permanent staff, three calf-rearers and five relief milkers.

Eyre was overseer at Oakwood through spring and mating because of his knowledge of the farm, while Welch took a lead role on the other two units as his experience lent itself to their pasture-based systems (these farms feed palm kernel and a little maize, but are more pasture-based than Oakwood).

This season they have swapped roles to gain experience and to widen their individual knowledgebases.

“When you’ve been farming a while, you can be a little short-sighted,” says Brad Eyre. “Someone new coming into the system can pick up on things you don’t see yourself when you’re on the farm day to day. That’s why we decided to swap roles this season.”

Each farm has a young trainee manager, and both Eyre and Welch are involved in key decisions on each unit.

“We’ve been given a great opportunity, so we’re trying to take young guys on the ride with us and give them an opportunity to grow as well,” says Eyre.

We have learned that no one way is the right way to farming. We have found it really helps to have someone to bounce ideas off. We can definitely grow quicker together. We could have done this by ourselves, The pair have been working on learning the business side of their operation, and do all their own GST and accounts.

Their goal is to continue to expand the business and increase production on each farm. They are targeting 320,000 kilograms of milksolids (311,000kg last season) on Oakwood, 200,000kg (180,000kg) on Allen Oaks, and 220,000kg (180,000kg) on Pepi Oaks.

Their aim is to get more contract-milking jobs, a sharemilking position or perhaps go into an equity partnership.

They have been busy buying stock to prepare for the next leap. Since June 1 last year, have amassed 90 milking cows, 70 rising one-year-old in-calf heifers and 35 calves they reared themselves.

Eyre says that by joining forces, the pair (who also flat together) have benefited from each other’s

knowledge. He also acknowledges the assistance of Jim Kirkham, who was willing to take a risk on them.

“He has been the backbone of all we have been able to achieve, and he has given us a lot of freedom. Both James and I are very passionate about this farm and his stock, and I think he sees that.

“We have a financial meeting with him once a month to make sure we are on target. He gives us positive feedback and helps us to learn more about the financial side of farming.

“James and I have learned that no one way is the right way in farming. By forming a partnership together, we have found it really helps to have someone to bounce ideas off. We can definitely grow quicker together – there’s no way we could have done this by ourselves.”

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24

ON FARM: Andrew Clement/Andrew de Groot

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

A Clement land transformed Kelly Deeks Andrew Clement’s great-grandfather probably wouldn’t recognise the land he bought in 1918.

The block – at Oaonui, just north of Opunake in South Taranaki – has been transformed into an 320-hectare dairy farm milking 430 cows through a 50-bail turnstile shed.

Clement senior was a sawmiller who bought the block to clear it of rimu and totara trees. Once the trees were down, he divided the land into four blocks and split them amongst his family.

Andrew Clement’s grandfather got one block, which he cleared further and started milking about 40 cows by hand. He also ran a holstein friesian stud and imported semen from the United Kingdom.

He eventually split his farm in half and, in the 1950s, Clement’s father, Roy, took over one half.

The farm now had a walk-through cowshed and Roy Clement milked about 120 cows while his father milked 80 cows on his side of the farm. Roy Clement was one of Taranaki’s first AB technicians, and used to travel 190km to do his run.

When the Roy’s father/Andrew’s grandfather died in 1986, Andrew Clement took over one half of the farm and his brother, Dean, bought the other half. At the same time Andrew bought a neighbouring 128ha dry-stock farm, and incorporated it into the milking platform.

Andrew milked 300 cows through a 24bail rotary, and Dean 130 through a 16-a-side herringbone. In 1994 Andrew built a 50-bail turnstile shed so that he could milk his cows in an hour.

In 2002, Dean Clement sold his part of the farm to Andrew, and went off to be a chicken farmer.

Andrew, who now had 510 cows, hired a lowerorder sharemilker and set about developing rough patches of land with his own digger and machinery.

“When the farms were running individually, they did 145,000 kilograms of milksolids between them,” says Andrew. “When the sharemilkers took over, they did 112,000kg milksolids. So, in 2004, my wife, Jocelyn, and I decided to go back to milking ourselves.”

A couple of years later, they bought a 120ha run-off block on the boundary to Egmont National Park. The intent was support for the dairy farm, but the workload proved too big to be viable, and they sold it two years later.

This enabled the Clements to reduce debt on the home farm, and continue developing land and pasture to improve production.

They were also able to build Herd Homes in 2012, which they hope to use to full advantage this winter after a learning curve last year.

“This year we’ll use them a lot more,” says Andrew Clement. “Last year the cows had two-day breaks from the shed, then we’d bring them home

to get their hay. Sometimes we were a bit late, and a few paddocks got a bit pugged. This year we put in more silage so that we can use more during the winter and have them off the paddocks a bit more.”

Lack of rain has forced him to dip into his silage stocks, but he says he will stop milking before he uses too much of his winter supply.

PHOTOS Above: Andrew and Jocelyn Clement aim to get full value for their Herd Homes this winter.

Below: The land in question...Andrew Clement’s 510 cows graze the Oaonui land where his greatgrandfather was cutting rimu and totara 95 years ago.

Young farmer gets hands-on Kelly Deeks

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In his fourth season of working on the family dairy farm in the Waikato, Andrew de Groot has had to contend with his first drought. It has involved him in climbing a steep learning curve.

The drought saw the farm, which is five kilometres east of Morrinsville, get pretty dry in March.

By the end of March the de Groots had dried off all the cows. “It was getting really hard,” says Andrew.

“As soon as it got dry, we got rid of all our culls instead of holding on to them a bit longer. When we dried the cows off, so we’ll get some grass once it does rain and they should be able to put on some weight before calving.

Despite the drought and drying off early, the de Groots had a cracking season.

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“We had two or three months until calving, so we had time on our side really. As long as it rained.”

Andrew, who has been working on the farm since he left high school, has completed level 3 and 4 Ag ITO, and plans to start level 5 this year.

His parents, Aad and Jill de Groot, have owned the farm since 1995, and have expanded it twice.

They started with 35 hectares and 110 cows. Eight years on they bought a similar-sized neighbouring farm, upped their cow numbers to 180, and started grazing all their young stock at home.

When Andrew left school and came home to work on the farm, the family leased another similarsized neighbouring block, and increased herd numbers.

The de Groots now milk 270 cows on 105ha farm. They normally use 80-85ha in the milking platform, with the remainder (at the rear of the property) used to graze 45 calves and 45 heifers, and grow supplementary feed.

The farm has consolidated peat soils which, says Andrew de Groot, hold on to moisture a bit more than the surrounding areas. In fact, because the farm is dead flat, it can get quite wet when it rains.

The de Groots run a low-cost system with only 50 tonne of palm kernel used each year. Their low stocking rate allows them to make more home

ON FARM: TSM Farms,

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

25

Three-way deal brings scale to businesses Karen Phelps TSM Farms partnership has been by three farming families with the aim of expanding their individual businesses. It involves Graeme Tulloch, the Searle family (Richfield Ltd) and Vaughan Marfell.

TSM Farms, the overall entity, owns the stock and plant of three separate farms: two dairy units (220 hectares and 165ha) and a 526ha sheep-andbeef unit.

Graeme Tulloch owns the land, which is leased back to the partnership. Damon Searle sharemilks the partnership’s 165ha dairy farm at Carterton, and his brother, Simon Searle, runs the nearby 220ha dairy unit. Vaughan Marfell manages the sheep and beef property.

Five full-time and one part-time staff are employed across the three farms. The farm are supported by three run-off blocks (two of 120ha, the other 90ha).

Around 400 heifer calves from the farms are reared together on the lease blocks. After replacements are reared, the rest are sold to the export market.

Damon Searle milks 420 holstein friesian cows (150 of them winter-milked) through a 33-a-side herringbone shed. He grew up on the farm where his father, Richard, worked for Tullochs. Richard,

who still lives on the farm, is one of TSM Farms’ directors.

“Because I grew up here, it’s familiar and I know the place, which is a real advantage,” says Damon.

He says the biggest challenge is the summer dry. K-line irrigation now covers 80ha, and effluent is spread over 37ha with a travelling irrigator.

Close management is the key to beating the weather, says Damon.

“I do pasture walks every 10 days. We milk the cows as long as we can, and dry them off when the pressure comes on the system. We milk 330-350 until they start calving again in March.”

Simon Searle peak-milks 680 cows through a 50-bail rotary shed on the partnership’s 220ha property.

Damon Searle sees many benefits in farming in an equity partnership.

It has allowed him to enter large-scale farming quicker, and the sharing of resources can create

Damon Searle gets some help with the silage from his right-hand family – eight-year-old Jonty (standing), five-year-old Katie (left), and nine-year-old Liam. cost efficiencies. For example cows not suited to a rotary shed are moved to the other unit, and vice versa.

The biggest challenge is the summer dry. Close management is the key to beating the weather. I do pasture walks every 10 days.

look at his first big drought

He cites Graeme Tulloch and Richard Searle as valuable sources of knowledge.

Keeping costs down and reducing debt is the main focus of the Searles as they work towards their goal of buying more of the Tullochs’ shares in the business.

Damon Searle says total farm running costs are $4.25 per kilogram,and they are targeting 200,000 kilograms of milksolids this season.

The Searles have three children, and Damon says they love the farming life: “They’d be on the farm all the time if they could.”

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Andrew de Groot with some of the family’s 270 cows, grown supplements than most dairy farmers.

And, despite the drought, they have had a cracking season – the farm produced 103,000 kilograms of milksolids. They were chasing 110,000kg after producing a record 113,000kg last season.

“We always thought that would be hard to beat,” says Andrew. “We were doing about 3000kg ahead the whole way this season. By the time we dried off, we were still ahead of last season, but last season we were milking into May. We would rather dry off now and have another go at our target next year..”

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26

TRAINING: National Trade Academy

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

Sth Americans ‘keen to learn’ Jo Bailey A rural training organisation is welcoming the New Zealand government’s push for closer ties with South America. “From our experience there are great opportunities in these markets, particularly for the export education and rural sectors,� says Craig Musson, managing director of National Trade Academy.

Since 2007 he has worked closely with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and New Zealand Trade & Enterprise to build partnerships with South American schools and rural training organisations.

Several hundred students, mainly from Chile, have come to Christchurch to study agriculture, equine, horticulture and animal care at the NTA. “South America has similar pasture-based farming systems to New Zealand and a growing dairy industry,� says Musson. “The students are keen to learn about our farming methods – particularly around increasing productivity and the use of technology on dairy farms.�

Most of them are looking for practical, hands-on experience – something not usually available to them

If they can experience at least a full year on a dairy farm, they have a lot more expertise to put into practice or to teach others.

through South American, rural-training organisations.

The international students begin their studies at the academy with six weeks of English lessons that concentrate on everyday language, farming terminology, and slang they’re likely to hear on the farm. They then move onto the full agricultural study programme, which covers a range of rural topics with a strong focus on dairying.

BĂĄrbara PeĂąa Barra and Esteban Pitripan Mainsail are among the academy’s current crop of 35 South American students. “It is a great opportunity for us because milking is big in New Zealand,â€? says BĂĄrbara “We can take what we learn back to Chile and show others.â€? Esteban Pitripan Mancilla says studying in New Zealand “is important for our futureâ€?.

The Chilean Ministry of Agriculture is funding the students to study full-time under pilot study-to-work visas. These visas enable the students to work on New Zealand farms for up to four months once their studies are complete. “The students and their parents are investing several thousand dollars to come here to study and live, so want some sort of guaranteed return on their investment,� says Musson. “That’s why it is critical that students are able to put what they have learned into practice before they take their new knowledge and skills back home.�

Musson, who helped establish the pilot visas in conjunction with the Chilean government and New Zealand Immigration, would like to see the work period extended to a maximum of two years once the visa model is formally adopted. “This will give students the opportunity extend their learning in the New Zealand environment, and still opens the way for subsequent groups of students to find pathways into employment.� “We have no problem placing them, given the

Bårbara Peùa Barra (left) and Esteban Pitripan Mancilla...among current crop of 35 South Americans. lack of local staff and demand for keen, well-trained workers,� says Musson.

Rangitata Island dairy farm manager Adrian Munoz, who has employed several South American students from the academy on an 800-cow farm since 2010. would also like to see the study-to-work visas extended to around two years. “On the current visa, the students are able to spend only a few months in work after they finish their studies. I think a two-year programme would work much better. If they can experience at least a full year on a dairy farm, they have a lot more expertise to put into practice or to teach others when they return home.�

This is also a more attractive arrangement from an employer’s perspective, he says. “We invest a lot in the development of our staff, so have to ask ourselves if it worth having them here for only a few months.�

Musson, who continues to visit Chile twice a year to recruit new students, says there are emerging markets for export education in Colombia, Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil. “The cost of international marketing is expensive, so the trips have to be well planned to make sure we are getting the most out of it.�

He says the academy has just started working with an agent in Brazil where there is “some good interest�.

Interbloc releases new sliding roof for feed and fertiliser bunkers It’s a time consuming, awkward job on the farm that thanks to a new product just released onto the market has now got a whole lot easier. Pulling the tarp off the feed or fertiliser bunker, especially in the middle of winter, is no fun for any farmer but a new sliding roof designed

by Interbloc has just made the job easy. The new sliding roofs can just be pushed with a front end loader meaning farers don’t even need to get off the tractor.

The main point of difference though with the new Interbloc solution that will no doubt find favour with the rural community is the price. While feed and fertiliser bunker sliding roofs typically cost big bucks the Interbloc solution is being released onto the market for under $6k. And what’s more the product is fully engineered and made from high quality materials right here in New

Zealand. Interbloc’s Scott Bright says that the reason the roofs are so much more cost effective than competitor products is smart design and standardising the product range to suit a range of farmers’ needs. “Up until now farmers have had to individually get their bunkers designed and made. But by designing and producing a standardised range we can mass produce the bunkers and sliding roofs to bring farmers a significantly cheaper price,� explains Bright.

The bins the roofs sit on are made from Interbloc product, which works in a similar way to children’s building blocks except each block weighs a tonne. The uniquely shaped concrete blocks literally lock together providing an incredibly strong yet flexible and easy to assemble system.

Bright says the system is ideally suited to the rural industry for palm kernel and silage bunkers, fertiliser bins and even buildings. One of the main advantages of the system is its incredible flexibility – the bricks can easily be disassembled and reassembled if at a later date the bunker or bin needs to be enlarged or moved on the farm.

Interbloc manufactures the product at branches in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Kaikoura. The blocks are made from surplus concrete making them an environmentally friendly choice.

Bright says that Interbloc uses the strictest quality control standards in the industry. Concrete is tested on delivery to the yard and the blocks are tested at least twice before dispatch. The product comes with a lifetime

warranty. If a block breaks due to a manufacturing fault it will be replaced. Standard feed and fertiliser bins in the range are 4.2m x 9.6m and can be built to any height.If the company’s standardised solutions do not fit a customer’s requirements a designer option is also available, which allows customers to specify their unique requirements and Interbloc then designs a structure to suit those requirements.

Recognising that many farmers possess the skills to build a feed, fertiliser bin or silage bunker themselves, Interbloc has released a kitset DIY version including an instructional DVD and installation manual all for under $5k. Or if farmers don’t want to do it themselves Interbloc also offers an installation service.

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ON FARM: Greg & Fiona Jones

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

27

No easy task to keep up with these Joneses Karen Phelps There are no prizes for guessing what the conversation will be when the Toko Jones get together. They’ve all been bitten with the farming bug.

All three brothers and their wives – Greg and Fiona, Alan, and Tina, Vaughan and Helen – own and farm dairy units. And the brothers’ parents, Colin and Patricia, keep their hand in overseeing a property the family owns as a partnership. All of them live in the Toko area, around 10 kilometres east of Stratford in Taranaki.

The original 87ha (effective) family farm, which Greg and Fiona now own, has been in the family for more than a century.

Greg credits his parents with helping the boys into farm ownership: “Dad is an astute businessman and has helped set us all up. Although we run our farms separately, we share information and help each other out by sharing farm equipment etc.”

In 2008 the four parties went into partnership to buy an additional farm, a 90ha property next door to Greg and Fiona. They employ a lower-order sharemilker to milk the 280 cows under Colin’s supervision “ After leaving school Greg Jones worked as the Stratford racecourse caretaker and on a neighbour’s dairy farm before heading off on an agricultural exchange that saw him farming in Canada and Holland. He and Fiona, from Levin, met at a Young Farmers meet and greet.

They took over the family farm in 2009. They now milk 315 jersey cows through a 36-bail rotary dairy shed with automatic cup removers. The addition of automatic drafting last winter has helped streamline operations.

Greg prefers to budget conservatively on 100,000 kilograms of milksolids and considers anything extra a bonus. Last season they achieved a farm record of 109,000kg with 300 cows and would be pleased with that again this season.

A travelling irrigator spreads effluent, and they buy in palm kernel to fill in the gaps in their system.

Greg and Fiona Jones, with two of their of their three daughters, Monica (left) and Jessica.

They make around 400 cubic metres of pit silage a year.

Greg says their biggest challenge is the high stocking rate, which makes it difficult to avoid pugging in winter. They counter this by grazing 80-90 cows off farm for eight weeks, by using an old cowshed on the property as a wintering barn, and by standing cows off in the yard of their milking shed.

Greg Jones says pasture management keeps him on his toes. He or his full-time worker go around the farm with a C-Dax pasture meter each

week to score the paddocks. Fiona is the calf rearer and relief milker..

The Joneses – who have three daughters: Monica, 15, Jessica, 13 and Karen, 5 – are planning the building of a new farmhouse over the coming year.

Their goal is to take a step back from their business and smell the roses.

“I’ve been working on this farm since I was 23 years old,” says Greg Jones. “I want to be able to enjoy the fruits of my labour and to have a bit more balance. It’s about working smarter not harder.”

PHOTOS: Left, Colin and Patricia Jones, the elder statespeople of the Jones dairying enterprise at Toko. Right, An aerial view of Greg and Fiona Jones’s 87ha (effective) property. This is the original family farm.

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28

ON FARM: Colin Sinclair

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

Deer to cows – with an eye to expansion Kelly Deeks When the Sinclair family converted a 190-hectare Waikato deer farm in Walton to dairying this season, they had expansion in mind and set out to , ensure they future-proofed the conversion to allow cow numbers to be increased without having to redevelop systems on farm.

Colin Sinclair, who is running the farm in partnership with his parents, is an electrician by trade.

He left the electrical industry to start dairy farming on a 57ha family farm during the 2007-08 season. In the 2009-10 season he shifted back to the original 140ha home farm with the aim of improving its systems.

“I’m happy I did what I did with my electrical work, and I’m happy coming back to the farm,” he says.

“When we have any electrical issues around the farm, I can figure out what’s going on, or decide whether we need to get the electricians in for largerscale jobs.”

The Sinclairs now operate two milking platforms, as the home farm is directly across the road from the new conversion.

Its location was a huge selling point for the Sinclairs, as the 57ha property they sold to buy the deer farm was a 20-minute drive away from the home farm.

Having the two farms side by side makes it much easier for Colin Sinclair to manage both. He is assisted by his sister, Karyn, and her partner. Both the new conversion and the home farm have two staff working on them.

When planning the conversion, the Sinclair family had some requirements that saw as necessary to set the farm up to run efficiently, and to ensure that things needed to be set up only the once.

“We wanted a good cowshed, good tracks around the farm, an excellent water supply, and excellent fencing,” says Colin.

The farm came with deer fencing already in place and fairly well-sized paddocks. Sinclair says

• To page 29

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Below: The dairy shed has been designed to cope with bigger cow numbers in a year or two.

Opposite page: A weeping-wall system transfers effluent into a green-water pond, before it is irrigated on to the farm through a k-line sprinkler system.

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ON FARM: Peter Flood

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

29

Half of Nthland farms ‘cashflow negative’ Karen Phelps As the drought dug in in Northland Peter Flood was intent on getting his core herd through to the autumn rain.

“We were reassessing the situation each week going through various scenarios: What if it rains?

What if it doesn’t? We put a one-week plan in place to keep us in a good position to tackle the following week. We were always looking at the big picture.

“It was very stressful for staff, so it was about giving them plenty of support so that they knew they are not in this alone. Weekly meetings with staff also meant they could support one another.

That was a key part of getting through the drought.

His objective was to keep feeding cows well so that they did not lose condition and need drying off.

He was also lucky that he had secured palm kernel contracts until the 60ha of maize grown on his farms was harvested.

He has been disappointed in the profiteering that has gone on during the crisis, with suppliers hiking

prices to what he feels were unreasonable levels that hit farmers hard.

Flood owns a number of properties in Northland.

He is in an equity partnership in a 219-hectare, 620-cow farm at Kerikeri and a 272ha, 800-cow farm at Ruawai, both of which have contract milkers. He owns two dairy units at Ruawai – one of 262ha with 800-cow, operated by a lower-order sharemilker, the other 100ha with 330 cows.

He also has three run-offs – 150ha at Kerikeri, 80ha at Ruawai for dairy grazing, rearing bull calves and wintering cows, and 400ha at Kaiiwi Lakes, used as a dairy support and beef unit.

Fllod, who was raised on a small dairy unit in Awanui, north of Kaitaia, worked on the family

farm when he left school. He progressed to lowerorder and 50:50 sharemilking before buying the neighbouring property in 1979 and then the family farm in 1980. He shifted to Ruawai, just south of Dargaville, in 1991.

His business grew rapidly in 2008-09 through farm and land acquisitions. He is now concentrating on consolidation, profit and production.

In addition to his own properties, Flood is involved in a number of other farms and industryrelated activities. He says this networking keeps him up to date with what is happening in the industry.

He is part of the management team of the committee of the Northland Agricultural Research demonstration farm at Dargaville. He’s also

Fonterra is putting a lot of emphasis on environment sustainability, which is important, but it needs to place emphasis on the sustainability of shareholders.

a committee member of the Northland Dairy Development Trust that administers the Northland AgResearch farm and the Jordan Valley Fonterra farm. And he is a committee member of a Dairy New Zealand initiative on a privately owned focus farm in Kerikeri for owners Alistair and Lynn Candy.

Flood says his own recipe for success is simple – low-cost, high-output farming, a virtual all-grass system, a stocking rate to suit the farm, and using all the resources the farm has to offer.

He operates his farms on a farm running cost of around $3.50 per kilogram of milksolid, compared with the Northland average of close to $4.50.

While he says he is in a better position than most, he remains concerned about the payout in view of that Northland farm running cost ($4.50/kg/ ms, which has been driven higher by the drought, and average debt servicing is around $1.50/kg/ms.

“This means that half of the farms in Northland are cashflow negative. Fonterra is putting a lot of emphasis on environmental sustainability, which is important, but I also think it needs to place emphasis on the sustainability of shareholders.”

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Major concerns ‘right first time’ • From page 28 the only need for new fencing was around the new races.

“In time we will change the paddocks around, but as it is now, it runs well. The main things for us to get right the first time were the water system and the effluent system.”

The Sinclairs built a weeping-wall effluent system, which transfers effluent into a green-water pond, before it is irrigated on to the farm through a k-line sprinkler system.

“It’s well and truly ahead of the norm, and well in excess of what the council requires,” Sinclair says. “We can apply effluent down at a minimum rate of 11 millilitres equivalent of rain.”

A long area – between of 50ha and 60ha – is covered with the effluent irrigation. Colin Sinclair says there is scope to take the irrigation system in another direction and cover another 30ha to 40ha if a need becomes apparent.

The water system was a major concern for the Sinclairs, and they wanted to ensure it was done right first time.

AgFirst consultant Nick Bryant assisted the family with the water and irrigation requirements.

The aim was to design an energy-efficient setup, where water supplied from a bore is pumped to a large reservoir tank, which then gravity-feeds it to the whole farm. This eliminates the need for a reticulation pump.

“We’ve made the pipelines big enough to handle a higher stocking rate so that we won’t have to

change the water system,” Sinclair says. “We put in 63mm mainline pipes, which is five sizes up from what used to be the standard waterline size.

“The volume that goes through it is plentiful, and we’ve never had a trough go empty. We can have 20 cows standing around the trough drinking, and their noses don’t go below the top of the trough.

That’s a huge thing for me.”

Because it’s a first-year conversion, the Sinclairs have chosen to run a very low stocking rate this season, calving down 330 cows and currently milking 285.

“During the spring this season we were cutting large areas of silage every couple of weeks,” says Colin.

“We’ve been feeding it for a month and a half now and we’ve got another four weeks left. Being able to make that much silage has greatly benefited us.

“However, going in light on numbers during the spring, we had wondered if we’d done the right thing. We are certain now that carrying a higher stocking rate would have negatively affected our profitability and animal health this season.”

Animal health is a big part of the picture as well.

With the support of Matamata Veterinary Services the Sinclairs have worked towards a condensed calving spread in the spring as well as a low empty rate.

Sinclair says cow numbers will probably be up to 450 to 500 in three years, once he has completed a significant amount of re-grassing, starting with 10 to 15% of the farm this season.

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30

ON FARM Brent & Lisa Lyons/Colin Rider

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

Low-cost competition Karen Phelps Brent and Lisa Lyons have a clear aim: increase the revenue from their 100-hectare run off block at Oringi, Southern Hawke’s Bay to reduce debt. Once they pay down debt, they may sell the farm and run-off to finance their way into a larger dairy unit.

The Lyons run a low-cost system – just $2.14 per kilogram of milksolids (including all

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farm management costs).

“We have a competition with our neighbours to see who can achieve the lowest-cost system,” says Lisa. “This keeps us all motivated.”

They run the farm on their own, no staff.

High-school children sometimes do odd jobs for pocket money and experience. Their three children – Rebecca, 13, Chris, 11 and Aydan, 10 – are already learning the ropes on the farm and rear lambs to sell.

The herd of 240 jersey, crossbred and friesian cows is milked through a 19-a-side herringbone shed. Despite the small size of the shed, one person can easily manage the milking and drenching , and complete the job in less than two hours.

The Lyons have raised soil fertility on their 119-hectare (87ha effective) property to an Olsen P reading of 15-20. They are growing more grass and have 130 rising two-year-old and mixed-age cows (including beefies), plus 170 dairy replacements (weaners) on the block.

This will give them the opportunity to do a good cull to improve their herd and find 50-70 surplus dairy cows they can sell. They say there is potential to increase sales to 100-150 dairy cows.

The couple operate a predominantly grass system but have fed 15 tonnes of palm kernel this season because of the dry weather.

They produced 83,000kg of milksolids in the 2011-12 season and were aiming to repeat that in 2012-13.

They have also put another bridge on the farm, which has two waterways flowing

through its boundaries and into the Manawatu River. The new bridge will help them achieve full compliance.

Despite the abundance of water the Lyons have the only non-irrigated dairy farm in the Oringi district. To cope, they go to once-a-day milking from Christmas until the end of the season.

“We have a good root depth though,” says Lisa Lyons. “Most people can’t believe how green our farm is with no water. We make sure every paddock is topped once during the season, and we make sure residuals are kept low (under 1000) during the autumn/winter months.

“We graze in sections of 10-20ha per round. This is to open up the pasture sward so that clover seeds can have a good go. We

PHOTOS: Top left, Lisa and Brent Lyons. Top right, Chris, Rebecca and Aydan Lyons. Below: The Lyons pre-test the new bridge.

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are renowned for having the most clover in the region.”

Lisa, off a Northland dairy farm, did a Bachelor of Applied Science in agriculture at Massey University and had her eye on a consultancy career. When she met townie Brent, he convinced her that they should give dairy farming a go.

They started by managing Lisa’s parents’ 380-cow farm, quickly progressed to lowerorder sharemilking and, a year later, went 50:50. Another three years on, they moved to Woodville to 50:50-sharemilk on a three-year contract.

In 2006, a year into their contract, they bought their farm and hired a manager to run it. When their sharemilking contract was up, they took the reins.

spillway land, it takes about a week for the water to go, and another week before we can put the cows back in.

Kelly Deeks When Colin Rider arrived at his lower-order sharemilking job on Doug Easton’s Horowhenua farm, he found Easton contending with a flood that left the whole 280-hectare farm needing to be regrassed and the dairy shed in pieces drying out on the ground.

The Manawatu River had burst its stopbanks in February 2004. Half of the Easton farm is leased spillway land that floods about once a year with overflow from the Manawatu.

Colin Rider’s first job on arriving on the sodden farm in June 2004 was to build a feedpad so that he could feed the cows, as the farm was 100% new

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ON FARM: Craig & Anna Watkinson

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

31

Couple take 50:50 step Kelly Deeks Craig and Anna Watkinson have just completed their first season of a new challenge: 50:50 sharemilking on the family farm after working up the ranks for six years.

They have milked 345 cows on Bruce and Christine Watkinson’s farm near Te Awamutu. Craig and Anna know the farm well – Craig has managed it since he returned from Australia six years ago.

At that time his parents decided to sell their 200cow property at Morrinsville and look for a bigger farm where Craig could sharemilk and eventually take over.

“We found this farm. It ticked all the boxes in terms of size and the contour, and the price was right,” says Craig. “In our first season here, a lot of infrastructure needed replacing to get it reliable, such as the water system which we redid.”

He says it became obvious pretty quickly that

the new farm required more inputs to compensate for slower winter growth.

“We were buying in more maize, which we feed in the paddocks, and doing a bit of grazing-off in the winter and early spring to take the pressure off the farm.”

Most of the herd stayed home for winter, with the late-calvers going off farm to graze and coming home in August.

Craig started his herd-building process by buying and rearing calves in his first year as manager, and has been increasing the number of cows he owns in the herd for the past six years.

When it came to buying the herd this season, he already owned 50 cows, 35 rising two-year-olds and 35 rising one-year-olds.

The farm has been operating with a run-off for the past two seasons. The Watkinson family bought a 52-hectare block of prime flat land at Arapuni, which has been used mainly for growing maize to be sold.

“The run-off gives us the flexibility to move cows there if feed is short on the dairy farm,” says Craig.

“There’s a lot of feed up there.”

He says the season had been exceptional, but with lack of rain in last few months, production started to fall behind last year from late February.

Until then, the farm had been producing a tonne of milksolids to the hectare.

Production last season was 137,500 kilograms of milksolids, but Watkinson says he will be stoked to get 125,000kg this season.

“Last season was exceptional because it was a cheap production season,” he says.

“To keep the milking in a summer dry, you have to throw the supplement at them. We had feed all the way through summer and autumn last year, so the late production was really cheap.”

Next on the agenda for the Watkinsons is some farm development – the effluent system, although fully compliant, is due for a revamp.

Craig started his herdbuilding process by buying and rearing calves in his first year as manager. When it came to buying the herd this season, he already owned 50 cows. 35 R2s and 35 R1s.

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Anna and Craig Watkinson, on farm with Max.

to increase in production grass. He has been through another eight floods; Managing pastures in the leased spillway land dictates a lot of the factors that affect the way he farms the 750-cow property.

“Every time it floods, it takes about a week for the water to go, and another week before we can put the cows back in there. It’s on a three-year regrassing programme, so the grass lasts only three years at the most. Even so, getting the pasture quality right in the spillway is quite a hard task as a lot of native grasses come up when it gets wet.”

Until this season, he has been milking through winter to control grass growth in the spillway.

“We don’t want the grass to grow too long in the spillway because of the risk of flooding,” he says.

But this year’s drought conditions have eliminated the need to milk through winter. He is milking to June 15 and will start calving on July 25.

“We’ll also keep at least 300 cows, possibly even half the herd, at home this winter. We don’t want to build a huge cover in the spillway.”

Rider has been out to improve per-cow production over the past two years. After struggling to do 400kg milksolids per cow a few years ago, he is on target for 420-430kg this season.

Two seasons ago production was 280,000kg milksolids, which increased to 306,000kg last season. In April he was 11% ahead of last season’s production and going for a farm record of 325,000kg.

He believes improved pasture quality is increasing production.

“Last season we did a major drainage job

outside the spillway, installing 26 kilometres of Novaflow, which helped us drain the spillway. The Landcorp farm next door is all drained and it was always a lot drier than us. This has helped get all the water out of the spillway so that we can concentrate on making better use of that land.”

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32

ON FARM: Nolan Terry

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

Left: The Terrys owns five tractors, and do much of their own agricultural work and transporting of stock between properties. Above: Nolan Terry with a feed wagon.

Stepping back not simple Karen Phelps

Nolan Terry looks a a man who enjoys his work, but he does concede he would like to slow down a bit – provided he can find the right people to take a lead role.

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Even though he has been advised to be less “hands on”, Nolan Terry says he finds it difficult to take a step back from his operation: “I like to have control of the farm and save money,” he says.

One gets the impression he has an old fashioned, hard-working ethic.

He admits that he would like to slow down, but sees the key to this as being able to find the right staff to take a lead role in the operation.

His wish could be fulfilled by his son, Brock, 28, who is working in the Terry business in a pasturemanagement role and doing tractor work.

“The farm adviser has said I should spend less time in the shed,” says Nolan. “But I feel that it’s pretty important as it allows me to pick up the finer details of the operation. That’s where you make your money...with milking.”

Nolan Terry grew up on a dairy farm in the Wairarapa and worked on the farm while at school.

His parents encouraged him to complete a trade, so he trained as a motor mechanic and worked in the industry in Australia and New Zealand.

He returned home in 1984 and bought a small – just 28 hectares – dairy farm near Carterton

and milked 70 cows. By buying and leasing neighbouring blocks, Nolan and Shirley Terry have now accumulated a total of 165ha on which they milk their 650 holstein friesian cows.

The couple also have another dairy farm four kilometres from the home farm. They milk 310 jersey, jersey-cross and friesian cows through a 36-a-side herringbone shed on this 87ha property (59ha of it owned, 28ha leased).

A 200ha lease block 30km from the home farm is used to winter some of the cows, to graze young stock and to make hay and silage.

Nolan runs both farms himself with the assistance of five staff, and can spend up to seven hours a day in the shed during peak milking. Shirley takes an active role...feeding calves, handling the accounts, other necessary jobs.

The Terrys own five tractors in total and do much of their own agricultural work, including cutting silage and hay, and spreading fertiliser. This allows them to do jobs as they need to be done rather than having to wait for contractors, says Nolan.

They also have their own truck-and-trailer unit, which they use to transport cows and heifers to

• To page 33

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ON FARM: Richard Sinclair

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

33

Winning couple ‘get the bug’ Sue Russell You could imagine life might be busy enough for Richard and Christine Sinclair...three children under five and running a 195-hectare dairy unit just north of Feilding. But no, they still have a lot of energy for an event that’s very near and dear to their hearts.

The Sinclairs won the Manawatu/Rangitikei/ Horowhenua regional sharemilker equity farmer of the year title in 2011 – a complete surprise and delight for the couple.

From this experience they realised just how valuable the competition had been in helping them cement their farming business, and in helping them think through a strategic plan that took care of all the important aspects of their lives at the time.

“It was the third time we had entered the competition,” says Richard. “We first entered the farmer/manager section and got so much out of it in terms of new knowledge and ideas that we were keen to try again.”

Their regional success qualified the Sinclairs for the national New Zealand Industry Awards finals in Queenstown.

That involved a two-hour presentation in front of a panel of judges. Richard says the work they put into the presentation, and advice and the feedback from judges in the preliminary rounds have proved very valuable – while meeting and mixing with other finalists was a real plus, When 2012 rolled around, the Sinclairs put their names forward to be part of the regional organising committee. With that experience behind them, they then offered to convene the 2013 event in their region. Full circle!

“You are not obliged to go on the committee, but you get so much back from being involved, from honing your organisational capacities to developing your time-management skills” says Christine.

And, along the way, they have made invaluable

Christine and Richard Sinclair with their children (from left).

James, Isabelle (2) and Emily (3), and their cows. connections with other farmers – the icing on the cake, she says.

The regional event was held on March 20 in Palmerson North, with the national final in Wellington on May 24.

“We were good at delegating jobs in the committee because you couldn’t and didn’t want to do everything,” says Christine.

They intend to remain involved with the dairy industry awards for a couple of more years, then and hand over the responsibilities.

“We’ve got the bug when it comes to this event,” says Christine. “We got so much out of being competitors and it just feels right that we stay involved in the organising for a while. It’s a strength of its structure that this is often how it happens.

We’re not moving from here’ Richard and Christine Sinclair lower-order sharemilk for Christine’s parents, David and Elizabeth Mills.

The property has been in the family for three generations and the Sinclairs see themselves being on the farm permanently.

“We’re not moving from here,” says Christine.

“It’s the family farm, so looking at succession has meant working through how we grow the business.

It has also meant making the right decisions now, with our family the priority for us”.

(Triplejump says it has worked with the Sinclairs on insuranceS and the management of ACC levies.)

When the children started to arrive Christine

and Richard made a conscious decision to take on more staff. They now employ two full-timers and Christine’s dad helps out. They also employ a reliefmilker every second weekend.

“We wanted to have time with the children,” says Christine. “Now we have more time together as a family.”

The Sinclairs are in their fourth season on the 30% rolling/70% steep block of land. The Manawatu clay base delivers challenges during the wetter months, with Richard constantly assessing stock spread and rounds to minimise pasture damage.

When it gets wet, it gets very wet.

Cows gather for milking at the Terry shed.

We’re pretty fussy with our cows’ • From page 32 their run-off, and for carting fertiliser, gravel and lime.

“We’re pretty fussy with our cows, and this way, we can shift them how and when we want to,” says Nolan. “We don’t believe in rarking them up or having dogs on them. We like to keep the herd relaxed, as the cows then have a better temperament and they milk better. It’s pretty busy

doing all these jobs ourselves, but we manage.”

The home farm produced 250,000 kilograms of milksolids in 2011-12 and the target for 2012-13 is 270,000kg. The other farm produced 101,000kg last season and is chasing 120,000kg this season.

Nolan Terry sees a better winter, more grass and better mating as the way towards production increases.

The Terrys also rear 150 bull calves each year, and these are sold privately.”

Richard and Christine Sinclair’s farm is like most New Zealand enterprises ― dependent on people to drive its success. If one of them were seriously ill, badly injured or died it could be devastating.

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34

ON FARM: John & Margaret Fisher/Mike & Lisa Wood

Cows thrive on good old robot TLC Kelly Deeks

BILLINGS BUILDERS LTD Call Ivan Billings 027 494 1961 Proud to be associated with the design & construction of the Fisher Farm Cowshed

The attraction of improved animal health and less pressure on staff motivated John and Margaret Fisher to invest in a robotic milking system on their 80-hectare Cambridge farm two years ago.

They have a manager on the property, which they have owned for 30 years, and assist and relieve him as needed. The Fishers also have a sharemilker milking conventionally on a 120ha farm across the road.

John Fisher started looking into robotic milking systems around 2006, after tracking the success of the system used at Dairy New Zealand’s Greenfields farm near Hamilton.

“They were reasonably successful, but getting cows to milk twice a day was difficult,” he says. “At Greenfields they came up with three-way grazing, which is the system we’re using here.

“We offer a fresh paddock every eight hours, which keeps the cows moving around the farm.

When they are moving from one paddock to the next, they walk through a selection gate that decides whether they are ready for milking. If they are, it directs them to the robots, if they’re not, it directs them to the next paddock.”

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

This system gives the Fishers a lot of flexibility, allowing them to program how many hours between milkings for individual cows.

“Throughout the drought that has been very handy. We can have some cows on twice-a-day, some once-a-day; we had most of the cows on 16-hour milking this season.”

When the cows walk into the dairy shed, they are identified by their electronic ID tag. The computer remembers their teat placement and the robot places the cups.

All four cups go on to the teats individually, and come off individually. Over-milking and potential teat damage is avoided as, unlike automatic cup removers, the robot doesn’t wait for all four quarters to finish before removing the cups.

“The cups come off when the flow reaches a pre-set limit of so many millilitres a minute,” Fisher says. “It’s amazing the different amount of milk in each teat.”

The shed is running 24 hours a day and is not staffed; it is checked every morning and every night. Fisher is alerted by text if there are any

problems, such as a machine stopping or a cow having an unusually low yield.

Two years on John Fisher says he is seeing better animal health, which he hopes will translate to a longer life-span for his cows because they are not under pressure.

“The cows are very content in the system, they just wander through in their own time,” he says.

“We’re seeing the less aggressive cows doing quite well. They get some meal in the robot, but it’s more an enticement to get them in there. Out of the robot, they get palm kernel or liquid feed. And rather than the whole herd scrapping on a feedpad, the less aggressive cows get the opportunity to take their fair share of supplements.”

The empty rate on the farm has dropped from 7.5% to 4% in the past two years, and the herd’s average condition has increased by half a condition score.

“But we’re in danger of losing that now because of the drought,” Fisher says.

The herd was dried off in March and the robots were turned off for the first time in two years. Fisher won’t winter-milk this season because of the drought, so the shed will have a wash put through it once a week to ensure it remains in running order, ready for next season.

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PHOTOS Top: The Fishers cows enjoy the robots’ attentions.

Left: Up close and personal with a robotic milker.

Phone 07 872 0000 www.johnaustinltd.co.nz

Hills and flats make for ‘two Jo Bailey

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Although separated by just a single road, the two 160-hectare dairy farms operated by Mike and Lisa Wood in the Lake Ferry area near Featherston couldn’t be more diverse.

“They are two completely different farms,” says Mike Wood.

“The 500-cow farm where we live is an irrigated flat-land property. However, our 350-cow farm just across the road is a hilly, summer-dry property at the foot of the ranges, with just 115ha effective because of a large area of bushland.”

He grew up on the hill farm where he and Lisa are lower-order sharemilkers for a family trust. They employ a herd manager and assistant to milk the 350 jerseys.

The irrigation of 30% of the farm by centre pivot

and k-line will turn this unit into a more conventional farm, says Mike. The water has to be pumped around 3.5 kilometres from the other property.

The Woods are 50:50 sharemilkers on the flatland property, a former sheep farm that was bought and converted by Mike’s father, Donald, in 1993.

They are assisted there by herd manager Eben.

Mike describes him as an “integral part of our business, who has been with us for three seasons and is staying on again”.

This farm was run by a sharemilker for nine years before Mike and Lisa came back to work in the family business.

“Dad always encouraged me to get a trade under my belt before I got back into dairying, so I spent nearly six years as a motorcycle mechanic.

Then I spent a couple of summers doing hay and silage-contracting on the farm and being a general gopher during the winter before Lisa and I came

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ON FARM: Richard & Sharon Grayling

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

35

‘We do look after environment’ Karen Phelps When Richard and Sharon Grayling built their dairy shed, they sought something that would be sustainable, fit in with the land and weather conditions, be low maintenance. They reckon they have been reaping the benefits of their planning.

The couple – who milk 320 friesian cows on 120 effective hectares at Te Poi, near Matamata, milking 320 friesian cows – have a 36-a-side herringbone shed in a distinctive “sail” shape.

“When I look at building something, it has to be there for a reason,” says Richard Grayling. “The shed has a curved roof to take advantage of the prevailing winds. We positioned our milkroom so that the summer west winds blow in, which helps to keep the milk cool and saves around 25% on our electricity bill.

“The bail area takes advantage of the winds blowing from the east in winter, which come straight over the Kaimai Range. This helps move the cows into the shed as it blows from behind them.

“You just think about animals and how they operate. We have put things in the right places to make farming easier.”

The couple built the shed from steel with no timber components and a Waikato Milking Systems loop-line milking system around 10 years ago. They use a Read slide pulsator system.

They say maintenance has been zero. They also think that by smart planning at the outset and using free resources, such as wind, they have not needed to invest in as much technology.

Richard, from a dairy farm in Taranaki, worked on farms around Te Awamutu before he and Sharon

bought their Te Poi property in 1999. Despite being a operating dairy farm, it was “almost a conversion”, they say. They have built a new shed, races, fences, houses, waterlines and more.

They run a low-cost system – total farm costs, including wages, sit at $2.59 per milksolid.

Their main goal is to farm in a way that is environmentally sustainable, keeping ahead of the game in terms of environmental impact.

Over the next three to four years they plan to improve their effluent storage and pumping areas.

They have a pumping-tank system with two days’ storage, which they monitor daily. Richard says larger storage capacity would give them greater control over effluent dispersal and, potentially, allow them to extend spreading beyond the current 30ha.

The Graylings make their own silage and grow 6ha of maize each year on farm. They buy in around 120 tonnes of dairy meal each year to feed through an in-shed feeding system.

They employ two full-time staff and Sharon is the chief relief milker. Their children – Nicole, 16, PHOTOS Clockwise from top: •The Graylings’ distinctive ‘sail-shaped dairy shed has been built to take advantage of the natural elements.

• Richard Grayling beside a fenced waterway.

• Sharon and Richard Grayling do the rounds together.

• Nicole Grayling in the dairy shed.

completely different farms’ back full-time. We’re now in our 11th season of milking here.”

The couple were managers on the flat-land farm for seven years before buying their own cows and progressing up the sharemilking ranks on both properties.

“When we came, the flat-land farm had 460 cows and no irrigation. We had water rights, but it was a matter of use them or lose them. Lisa and I were given the option of whether we wanted to go ahead; after intensive investigation, we decided irrigation development was the way forward.”

Around 90% of this property is now irrigated.

He says both farms are run on a grass-based regime with just a small amount of grain and grass silage fed.

“It’s a simple equation. The better-quality feed you grow, the more milk you make and the fewer supplements you have to feed.”

He anticipates record production, saying the previous best of 209,000 kilograms of milksolids on the 500-cow farm could be more like 220,000 this season.

“We’ve changed a few policies, including mowing in front of the cows with a hay-mower when it’s wet in early to mid-spring so that the cows are eating straight off the ground rather than the muddy, trampled grass.”

A re-grassing programme over the last couple of years has also led to production gains, along with “not making too many mistakes”, he says.

Lisa rears the junior calves and does all the bookwork and accounts, as well as being a midwife, and mum to the Woods’ two daughters aged 12 and 10.

Donald Wood is still fairly active on the farm,

particularly when it comes to hay and cultivation work.

Mike and Lisa employ five staff over the two farms. They meet every Tuesday to discuss “what’s going on and what’s coming up”.

“These meetings more than pay for themselves in production gains,” says Mike. “Everyone is clear about what’s happening, and I can be happy and satisfied they are getting on with it.”

Monica, 15 and Megan 13 – all help on the farm.

Last season they achieved 137,000 kilograms of milksolids and are aiming for a similar figure this season.

They have been busy fencing waterways and their next goal is to complete riparian planting on the farm to complement three lakes their have built.

“It’s expensive to do but it attracts more wild and birdlife. For us it’s a part of farming sustainably and showing the public that dairy farmers do look after the environment.”

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36

ON FARM: Bryce & Lee-Ann Hunger/Gibson Rural

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

New grasses produce ‘exciting’ performance They run a number three input system. An in-shed feeding system allows them to use about 350 tonnes of palm kernel, biscuit and DDG mix through the milking season, and ensures their cows are fully fed every day.

Kelly Deeks A vision for expansion has seen Bryce and Lee-Ann Hunger develop their original 75-hectare block in Taranaki into a fully set up, 197ha milking platform running 550 cows.

The Hungers have been running the Inglewood farm in an equity partnership with Leanne’s parents, Nigel and Karen Smith, for seven years.

Bryce has been farming for 23 years; he did a polytech course after leaving school and was lowerorder sharemilking three years later.

He and Lee-Ann worked their way up to 50:50 sharemilking before entering the equity partnership on a 100ha dairy farm in 2005. While they were still sharemilking, the partnership employed a manager.

In 2006 the partnership brought a 75ha block and leased 40ha six kilometres away from the home farm.

The Hungers gave away sharemilking to become owner-operators, milking 350 cows through an

18-a-side herringbone. In 2009 they built a 50-bail rotary to cope with the expansion.

In 2010 Lee-Ann’s brother, David, and his wife, Sheryl, Smith became shareholders in the partnership and managed the home farm.

Last season the partnership expanded further.

The 100ha home farm was sold to a neighbour and a 200ha, 570-cow dairy farm was bought. David and Sheryl are in full control of that operation. A further 72ha lease block was also added to the operation.

The farm has been fully developed. Water supply has been upgraded to 40mm pipes right to troughs (two or three per paddock), races have been widened to 5.5 metres, and all paddocks have been fenced to 4ha so that they can take a herd.

Bryce Hunger is excited about the performance of the new grasses. The Hungers have been regrassing 12% of the farm into new pasture each

year, and have now done 100ha in total. Winter annual is sowed in March, then put into turnips in early November and then permanent pasture the following March.

Paddocks are also undersowed with Italian ryegrass with AR37 to boost performance. Hunger has found the AR37 entophyte is really performing well.

“It’s quite dry at the moment, but those paddocks are still looking like spring grass.”

They run a number three input system. An inshed feeding system allows them to use about 350 tonnes of palm kernel, biscuit and DDG mix through the milking season, and ensures their cows are fully fed every day.

The Hungers are targeting production of 250,000 kilograms of milksolids this season, which is the same per cow and per hectare production as the last three seasons.

Come and see us for your new shed & dairy effluent enquiries

Lee-Ann and Bryce Hunger, with their family – Cameron, 8, Caitlin, 4, and Renee, 19 months.

• Hay & Silage Baling • Hedge Mulching Round & Square Bales • All Cultivating Work • Maize Silage • Effluent Spreading • Pit Silage

‘Clock ticks on bringing farm Sue Russell

Billy and Team proudly supporting Bryce & Leanne

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Pat Gibson is not surprised that farm-effluent systems are keeping his Te Awamutu-based Gibson Rural firm flat out.

“The whole effluent issue has come to a head,” he says. “The clock is ticking on bringing effluent structures up to spec on farms.

“Where there once weren’t definite guidelines and standards, the good thing now is that there are. No farmer wants to have to do the job twice because the rules have changed. Now things are certain for them.

“Effluent is a huge issue for farmers, some spending up to $500,000 to make the necessary upgrades.”

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pond-liners to bring farm effluent systems up to compliance. The firm builds bunkers, as well as systems to manage farm grey water.

Gibson and his staff are also heavily involved with building a mixed bag of milking sheds. It’s a variety they relish, says Pat Gibson.

Right now, there’s a rotary at Ohaupo, a herringbone at Paterangi and, a first for the company, a build-from-scratch robotic system at Pokuru, not far out of Te Awamutu.

“We had previously installed three robotic stations into a parlour, but this one is brand new and we’re really enjoying the experience,” says Gibson.

He sees robotics – where one robot can handle 80 cows a day – working well for smaller herds.

The entirely “cow-directed” approach uses sophisticated and sensitive technology to identify the cow, measure and monitor milk output, and clean and feed the animal before it is left free to wander off to paddock.

Farmers are increasingly looking at robotics to futureproof their operation., says Pat Gibson. His firm installs Lely robots from Morrinsville, which be fitted into sheds easily.

Gibson Rural has developed four shed designs, and Pat Gibson likes to take interested farmers to see one at work. It’s a way for farmers to get a perspective of the shed in action and to talk turkey, farmer to farmer.

Gibson Rural evolved 12 years ago when Pat Gibson was doing surface coatings on a build. As chance would have it, the builder went bust and the farmer asked Pat to finish the job. He enjoyed the experience so much he decided to apply his building skills in a new direction, and hasn’t looked back.

“I have 22 staff working with me now and plenty of work ahead. Concrete and steel work isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s our thing.

“I can see the effluent side of the business getting even busier, but we can spread staff around several sites at the same time and I can factor that capacity in when discussing time-frames with farmers.”

ON FARM: Jarrad & Natalie Drysdale

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

37

Lame cows the change catalyst Jo Bailey Jarrad Drysdale says “everything has fallen into place” since he started once-a-day milking on one of his two dairy units.

“There have been so many benefits since we changed the regime three seasons ago. We’re doing record farm production, our in-calf rate has improved, and I get to spend less time in the cowshed and more time with my young family.”

In the last five years he has built a sizeable dairy business at Eketahuna, in the northern Wairarapa, where his family has farmed for five generations.

Last July, he bought the 100-hectare (effective) family farm where he has worked on and off with his parents, Ewen and Marilyn, all his life.

Five years earlier he had acquired a similar-sized

dairy unit next door, which is still run alongside the home farm.

“This was originally quite a big dairy farm that two of my other neighbours and I each bought a slice of. My block had the cowshed on it and I’ve since done a lot of development work in terms of fencing, water and fertiliser to bring it up to par with other dairy farms in the district.”

For the first three seasons following this acquisition, Drysdale and his father milked their entire herd on the home farm. However this proved problematic for a number of reasons.

“The staff were spending far too many hours in the cowshed and there was constant walking pressure on the cows. Dad kept saying we should give once-a-day milking a try at home, but I wasn’t that keen to start with.”

However, after a particularly wet season resulted

Marilyn and Ewen Drysdale (Jarrad’s parents) outside the family homestead, which was built in 1900.

Ewen’s great grandfather cleared the land from bush. Ewen was the fourth generation of the Drysdale family to farm the land, and Jarrad is the fifth generation.

effluent systems up to spec’

The Drysdales on firewood duty: Natalie and Jarrad, with daughters Sophie (left) and Emma. in several lame cows, Jarrad changed his mind.

“We decided to get the cowshed going on the neighbouring unit, put a meal system in, and start milking our friesians over there twice a day. The remainder of the mainly crossbred herd stayed on the home farm and went onto once-a-day milking.”

In December last year, cow numbers were around 275 on the twice-a-day farm, which is managed by a married couple, Steve and Karen, who have been there since the new regime started.

The 285-cow home farm is managed by Jarrad and his 2IC, Cameron, who also manages the farm run-off and beef operation.

“They are a great team and the system works well as we can shift cows between the properties if need be,” says Drysdale.

Feeding meal inside the twice-a-day shed has helped the cows hold condition and has brought empty rates down, he says.

“Our vet told us recently that we have one of the top in-calf rates in the district, with 78% of cows due to calve in the first six weeks. We’re rapt because it adds up to more profitability.”

Production is on target to reach 90,000 kilograms of milksolids (900 kg/ha) on the once-aday farm and around 105,000kg (1050kg/ha) on the twice-a-day.

“The dry spell in February might take a bit of the cream off, but otherwise we’re really happy with the season.”

He tries to maintain a low-input system on both properties, with a small amount of maize and silage fed on the once-a-day farm, and balage, silage, palm kernel and Dairy Mix on the twice-a-day farm.

Ewen and Marilyn Drysdale still live in the original homestead on the home property that was built around 1900.

Jarrad’s two brothers are 50:50 sharemilkers off the farm, and one of his three sisters, Lucy, has just started in the dairy industry as a farm worker.

“Although Dad retired recently, he is still actively involved and works with me most days.

My grandfather was around when Dad was in my position and continued milking cows until into his 70s, so it’s great that we can continue the family legacy.”

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38

ON FARM: Ryan & Katrina Corbett/Kyle Goodwin

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

Figures hold key to pair’s farming future did a Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (now Ministry for Primary Industries) farming course and went straight into a farm-assistant job in Taranaki.

He progressed through the system and says he was Taranaki couple Katrina and Ryan Corbett have a slightly unusual way of managing staff stress – they lucky to have the assistance of Don Harvey, a farmowner he worked for, who lent the couple money to take them out on the farm for a game of paintball. help them buy their first cows.

“It’s good to do something different and break “We had no family backing when we first went away,” says Ryan Corbett. “You’d be surprised how 50:50,” says Ryan Corbett. “Don was the reason happy they are when they get to shoot the boss.” we were able to buy cows.”

The Corbetts, who milk 580 friesian cows for The Corbetts achieved record production on Darrell Hickey on 210 hectares at Okato, a little the Okato farm last season – 190,000 kilograms down the coast from New Plymouth, say keeping of milksolids – and were targeting 205,000kg this their two full-time and one part-time staff happy is season. vital to their business. Careful rostering also gives They are also mindful of life after farming. They staff regular time off and the odd sleep-in. have made a concerted effort to invest off-farm, The unit sits 300 metres above sea level and and own a motorcycle shop borders the Stony River. As If farming is worth (Mach 1 Yamaha) in central the name suggests, stones New Plymouth; the shop is can be a problem: it, we’ll buy a farm. run by Katrina.

“We’ve got only six “Four years ago Katrina mowable paddocks wanted to do something else and I wanted to keep because of stones,” says Ryan. “This makes it farming,” says Ryan. “We both like bikes, our hard to keep control of growth at times. We run son races, and we thought there was a gap in the 40 dry cows and carry-overs to tidy up behind the market in Taranaki.” milkers.”

Yes, they are working towards buying their own The farm is low-input and the herd is predominantly fed grass, with around 200 tonnes of farm, but have not ruled out the possibility their next step might be to invest in residential or commercial palm kernel thrown into the mix each season. property to increase their equity.

The stocking rate has been increased slightly to It’s all about the figures. Fourteen years ago they balance grass growth. Weeds were a problem when the Corbetts arrived – in their first summer they had were 100% in debt; by farming smart, they will be mortgage-free in the next 18 months. five people spraying full-time between milkings to “If farming is worth it, with a decent return on remove overgrowth of ragwort and gorse. investment, we’ll buy a farm,” says Ryan. “But if it Ryan was a New Plymouth lad who got his stays at the present 3-5% return on investment not introduction to the industry by working on a dairy counting capital gains, we won’t.” farm during his school holidays. After school he

Karen Phelps

Herd manager Andrew Paterson (front) and Ryan Corbett do the rounds on the Okato farm. Bikes play a significant role in the Corbetts’ lives. Both Ryan and Katrina like bikes, their son races one, and they own a motorcycle shop (run by Katrina) in New Plymouth.

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team of volunteers, I’ve brought a few skills back to the farm.

Kelly Deeks Lower-order sharemilker Kyle Goodwin has been tackling an extremely high empty rate on the Eltham farm where he has been working for the past three seasons. And this season he has made a significant improvement with follow-on effects to an improved calving spread and increased production.

Goodwin is milking 470 cows on Noel and Brenda Boddie’s 170-hectare farm. His previous experience includes lower-order sharemilking 300 cows and managing a 170-cow farm.

He says that when he arrived at Eltham, he set about reducing the farm’s historically high empty rate, condensing the calving spread, and improving production.

Empty rates on the farm have average between 16% and 17%, and have been as high as 25% For the past two seasons, Goodwin has used Kamar Heatmount detectors and BVD-vaccinated the herd.

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ON FARM: Ralph & Pam Gore

NZ Dairy / Winter 2013

39

Well fed top-performers ‘key’ Kelly Deeks Farm succession plans prompted Ralph and Pam Gore to convert their Waikato family farm to dairy four seasons ago. And they say it has proved a good decision.

“After 40 years of sheep farming I could never see my kids making a fortune out of it,” says Ralph Gore. “Being on prime dairying land, it was pretty apparent that was the best option to support a future for them.”

The farm, at Hinuera, close to Matamata, was converted to dairying in 2009. The property was bought by the Gore family in 1936. Family members tried a multitude of farm systems to make the figures work.

When Ralph Gore bought the farm in 1972, he started cropping 30-40 hectares of maize to help support the sheep and cattle operations. In 1984 he fenced off 25ha and bred a herd of 200 deer hinds.

The dairy unit comprises 173ha (effective) and 470 kiwicross cows are milked through a 50-bail rotary shed.

Despite his lack of experience in the dairy industry Ralph took on the project management of the conversion himself.

“Because I have grown up surrounded by dairy farms and have friends and neighbours who are dairy farmers,

“I had a fair idea of what was involved. I wanted to project-manage the conversion because it meant I had to do a lot of homework to ensure the infrastructure I put in place would do the job. I figured that the only way to make the right decisions was to do that background work myself.”

The Gores employed a manager for the first 18 months with their son, Brad, 26, employed as the herd assistant to learn the ropes. Brad then took over the manager position and plans are in place for him to move to contract milking this season. The farm also employs a full-time herd manager and a part-time calf rearer.

Ralph Gore has quickly recognised that a successful dairy operation relies on the quality of the herd. The Gores bought a mixed jersey-cross and kiwi-crossbred herd, and they are working on improving the herd.

“The only way to make money is to have topperforming animals,” says Ralph. “Having been a pastoral farmer for so long, I appreciated that unless an animal is properly fed, it won’t perform.”

The drought has created issues in the area and the Gores made plans to ensure the cows had enough feed, adding to their usual palm kernel and grass silage requirements. The farm has an in-shed meal-feeding system to feed meal and molasses. A nutritionist has also been engaged.

“I’ve learned that you can spend a lot of money on meal, but if it hasn’t got the right ingredients, you don’t get a lot of benefit out of it,” says Ralph Gore. “I won’t have to lift performance much for the nutritionist to prove a good investment.”

Over the past four seasons production has risen from 340 to 440 kilograms of milksolids per cow. Production is expected to be 12-15% down this year because of the drought. Next season’s target is 500kg milksolids per cow.

bears varied fruits “We’re also running bulls with the herd through AB,” he says. “I drafted off the AB cows in the morning, then released the bulls to pick up anything that had a light heat, and pulled them out though the evening.”

These measures saw the empty rate lowered to 13% last season.

“We weren’t quite happy with that, so we went on to winter-milk to maintain some equity for the farm-owner. This season we have dropped cow numbers from 550 to 470, fine-tuned our system, and managed an empty rate of 9%, and we’ve condensed the calving spread considerably as well.”

By running the bulls through the AB period, Goodwin was able to get 35 cows in calf naturally; otherwise they wouldn’t have got in calf until the next AB round.

He has lifted production from 180,000 kilograms of milksolids three seasons ago to a projected 220,000kg this season.

Having 80 fewer cows than last season has proved a big plus during the drought; he has been able keep them,all fully fed.

He also put in 33ha of chicory this season, and this is now being fed in the rotational system. He says the chicory has helped enormously during the drought, and he plans to grow it again next season.

“A lot of our production increase has come from there. Our cows have never milked so well; they are even milking ahead of last year.”

In addition to his on-farm commitments, Goodwin has been the Taranaki/Manawatu regional manager for the ANZ Young Farmer contest, a position for the past three years. He previously spent three years on the New Zealand Young Farmers board as vice chair.

He oversees the district finals, helps run the regional final, and, with the other seven regional

managers around New Zealand, helps with the grand final, which this year was held at the Kumeu Showgrounds, on the north-west outskirts of Auckland, from May 16-19.

Goodwin says he wouldn’t be where he is today without his experiences with Young Farmers.

“I’ve had so much development through the organisation, I’ve learned leadership, governance, and management skills.

“After learning how to run a team of volunteers, I’ve brought a few skills back to the farm that help me lead the team in my business.”

Ralph (left) and Brad Gore share a foggy Waikato morning on their Hinuera dairy conversion. Their 470 cows are milked through a 50-bail rotary shed (lower left).

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harder coatings and TUFF FLOOR EPOXY LEVELLING is such a product. Ideal for use to repair the milking platform as it can range in thickness from 1 – 10 mm, cures to a hard matt finish which is ideal for the animals hoof and does not need to be over coated.

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Contact us by email or phone to discuss problem areas you have and get good sound advice from the people who do this daily in many different and varied industries.